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This theoretical study examines how axion fields accumulate around compact objects like black holes and neutron stars, focusing on what happens when these clouds grow dense enough that nonlinear effects become significant. The researchers identify two possible evolutionary outcomes: a "Bosenova" regime where the cloud collapses explosively, and a saturation regime where the cloud reaches equilibrium and emits axion radiation at specific frequencies that are odd multiples of the bound-state energy. Importantly, the emission spectra differ between single-cosine axion potentials and QCD-like axion potentials, providing a potential observational method to distinguish between different theoretical models of axion physics.
Why it matters
If axions exist and form these clouds around compact objects, detecting their characteristic emission patterns from Earth could reveal fundamental properties of axion self-interactions and help discriminate between competing theoretical models. This could provide crucial evidence for axion dark matter and test predictions from particle physics theories beyond the Standard Model.
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⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
Abstract: Axion fields can form exponentially growing gravitational clouds around compact objects through self-interaction-driven relaxation of ambient axion waves. As the field amplitude approaches the axion decay constant, nonlinear effects become important. We identify two distinct regimes of late-time evolution, determined by the gravitational fine-structure constant and the cloud growth rate: a Bosenova regime, characterized by collapse accompanied by explosive axion bursts, and a saturation regime, in which self-interaction-induced axion emission balances accretion. In the latter regime, the emitted axion radiation exhibits stable discrete spectral lines at odd multiples of the bound-state energy, directly probing the global structure of the axion potential beyond its quadratic minimum. We show that single-cosine potentials and QCD axion-like potentials predict distinct emission spectra, enabling probes of the underlying axion self-interaction structure and its ultraviolet completion through terrestrial detection of relativistic axion fluxes from compact objects.
Source: Dynamics and Frequency Conversion of Accreting Axion Clouds