{"title":"Axion stars: mass functions and constraints","authors":"Jae Hyeok Chang, Patrick J. Fox and Huangyu Xiao","doi":"10.1088/1475-7516/2024/08/023","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The QCD axion and axion-like particles, as leading dark matter candidates, can also have interesting implications for dark matter substructures if the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is broken after inflation. In such a scenario, axion perturbations on small scales will lead to the formation of axion miniclusters at matter-radiation equality, and subsequently the formation of axion stars. Such compact objects open new windows for indirect searches for axions. We compute the axion star mass function based on recent axion minicluster studies and Bose star simulations. Applying this mass function, we find post-inflation axion-like particles with masses 1.8 × 10-21 eV <ma < 3.3 × 10-17 eV are constrained by the lack of dynamical heating of stars in ultrafaint dwarfs. We also find that current microlensing surveys are insensitive to QCD axion stars. While we focus on the gravitational detectability of axion stars, our result can be directly applied to other interesting signatures of axion stars, e.g. their decay to photons, that require as input the abundance, mass, and density distribution of axion stars.","PeriodicalId":15445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2024/08/023","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The QCD axion and axion-like particles, as leading dark matter candidates, can also have interesting implications for dark matter substructures if the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is broken after inflation. In such a scenario, axion perturbations on small scales will lead to the formation of axion miniclusters at matter-radiation equality, and subsequently the formation of axion stars. Such compact objects open new windows for indirect searches for axions. We compute the axion star mass function based on recent axion minicluster studies and Bose star simulations. Applying this mass function, we find post-inflation axion-like particles with masses 1.8 × 10-21 eV
QCD轴子和类轴子粒子作为主要的暗物质候选粒子,如果在暴胀之后佩奇-奎因对称性被打破,也会对暗物质子结构产生有趣的影响。在这种情况下,小尺度上的轴心扰动将导致在物质-辐射相等时形成轴心小团,并随后形成轴心星。这种紧凑的天体为间接搜索轴子打开了新的窗口。我们根据最近的轴子小星团研究和玻色星模拟计算出轴子星的质量函数。应用这一质量函数,我们发现质量为1.8 × 10-21 eV
期刊介绍:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP) encompasses theoretical, observational and experimental areas as well as computation and simulation. The journal covers the latest developments in the theory of all fundamental interactions and their cosmological implications (e.g. M-theory and cosmology, brane cosmology). JCAP''s coverage also includes topics such as formation, dynamics and clustering of galaxies, pre-galactic star formation, x-ray astronomy, radio astronomy, gravitational lensing, active galactic nuclei, intergalactic and interstellar matter.