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Title: Large-misalignment mechanism for the formation of compact axion structures: Signatures from the QCD axion to fuzzy dark matter

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D.
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. Perimeter Inst. for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, ON (Canada)
  2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  3. New York Univ. (NYU), NY (United States); Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Axions are some of the best motivated particles beyond the Standard Model. We show how the attractive self-interactions of dark matter (DM) axions over a broad range of masses, from 10–22 eV to 107 GeV, can lead to nongravitational growth of density fluctuations and the formation of bound objects. This structure formation enhancement is driven by parametric resonance when the initial field misalignment is large, and it affects axion density perturbations on length scales of order the Hubble horizon when the axion field starts oscillating, deep inside the radiation-dominated era. This effect can turn an otherwise nearly scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic perturbations into one that has a spike at the aforementioned scales, producing objects ranging from dense DM halos to scalar-field configurations such as solitons and oscillons. We call this class of cosmological scenarios for axion DM production “the large-misalignment mechanism.” In this work, we explore observational consequences of this mechanism for axions with masses up to 10 eV. For axions heavier than 10–5 eV, the compact axion halos are numerous enough to significantly impact Earth-bound direct detection experiments, yielding intermittent but coherent signals with repetition rates exceeding one per decade and crossing times less than a day. These episodic increases in the axion density and kinematic coherence suggest new approaches for axion DM searches, including for the QCD axion. Dense structures made up of axions from 10–22 eV to 10–5 eV are detectable through gravitational lensing searches, and their gravitational interactions can also perturb baryonic structures and alter star formation. At very high misalignment amplitudes, the axion field can undergo self-interaction-induced implosions long before matter-radiation equality, producing potentially-detectable low-frequency stochastic gravitational waves.

Research Organization:
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); Stavros Niarchos Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Industry Canada; Ministry of Economic Development & Innovation; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR); Eric and Wendy Schmidt
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0009988; PHYS-1720397; GBMF7946; NSF PHY-1620727; GBMF7392; NSF PHY-1748958
OSTI ID:
1801985
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1617383
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D., Vol. 101, Issue 8; ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 111 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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