Axions and stars

Journal Article · Thu Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · Phys. Rev. D; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.36.2201· OSTI ID:6059017

Frieman, J A; Dimopoulos, S; Turner, M S

The emission of light, noninteracting particles, such as axions and Majorons, modifies the structure and evolution of stars. We show that the main effects of such an energy loss are to raise the central temperature and luminosity of stars and to reduce their lifetimes. We clarify previous discussions of stellar axion bounds by directly relating the effects of axions to observable stellar parameters. The concordance of the standard model of the Sun with observations yields a self-consistent bound on the coupling of light pseudoscalars to electrons: g/sub phi//sub e/<5.4 x 10/sup -11/. This corresponds to a lower limit on the Peccei-Quinn scale, (F/2X/sub e//sup '/) greater than or equal to 10/sup 7/ GeV, comparable to the usually quoted solar bound. The lifetime of helium-burning stars can be used to place a very stringent and confident bound on the axion scale, (F/2X/sub e//sup '/) greater than or equal to 5.2 x 10/sup 8/ GeV, corresponding to g/sub phi//sub e/<9.3 x 10/sup -13/. We also discuss the consequences of axion emission for the solar-neutrino problem, for the ages of globular clusters, and for terrestrial solar axion detectors. Since the axion luminosity scales as a lower power of temperature than the nuclear-energy-generation rate, axion emission has a stronger influence on cool stars. We discuss the resultant changes in the mass-luminosity relation for low-mass stars and the effects on the low-mass cutoff for main-sequence stars.

• Research Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 6059017
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. D; (United States), Vol. 36:8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AXIONS
EMISSION
ELECTRONS
ENERGY LOSSES
GOLDSTONE BOSONS
LIFETIME
LUMINOSITY
MASS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
SOLAR NEUTRINOS
STANDARD MODEL
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
BOSONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
INTERACTIONS
LEPTONS
LOSSES
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEUTRINOS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PARTICLE MODELS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POSTULATED PARTICLES
RADIATIONS
SOLAR PARTICLES
SOLAR RADIATION
STELLAR RADIATION
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS
640102* - Astrophysics &amp; Cosmology- Stars &amp; Quasi-Stellar
Radio &amp; X-Ray Sources