Axion instability supernovae
New particles coupled to the Standard Model can equilibrate in stellar cores if they are sufficiently heavy and strongly coupled. In this work, we investigate the astrophysical consequences of such a scenario for massive stars by incorporating new contributions to the equation of state into a state of the art stellar structure code. We focus on axions in the "cosmological triangle", a region of parameter space with $$300{\rm\,keV} \lesssim m_a \lesssim 2$$ MeV, $$g_{a\gamma\gamma}\sim 10^{-5}$$ GeV$$^{-1}$$ that is not presently excluded by other considerations. We find that for axion masses $$m_a \sim m_e $$, axion production in the core drives a new stellar instability that results in explosive nuclear burning that either drives a series of mass-shedding pulsations or completely disrupts the star resulting in a new type of optical transient -- an \textit{Axion Instability Supernova}. We predict that the upper black hole mass gap would be located at $$37{\rm M}_\odot \le M\le 107{\rm M}_\odot$$ in these theories, a large shift down from the standard prediction, which is disfavored by the detection of the mass gap in the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA GWTC-2 gravitational wave catalog beginning at $$46_{-6}^{+17}{\rm M}_\odot$$. Furthermore, axion-instability supernovae are more common than pair-instability supernovae, making them excellent candidate targets for JWST. The methods presented in this work can be used to investigate the astrophysical consequences of any theory of new physics that contains heavy bosonic particles of arbitrary spin. We provide the tools to facilitate such studies.
- Research Organization:
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- De-AC02-07CH11359; AC02-07CH11359; 1920304
- OSTI ID:
- 1869735
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1861805
- Report Number(s):
- IPPP/22/10; FERMILAB-PUB-22-118-T; arXiv:2203.06160; PRVDAQ; 095038
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review D, Journal Name: Physical Review D Vol. 105 Journal Issue: 9; ISSN 2470-0010
- Publisher:
- American Physical SocietyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Hunting Dark Matter Lines in the Infrared Background with the James Webb Space Telescope
New physics and the black hole mass gap