Searching for axion-like particle decay in the near-infrared background: an updated analysis

The extragalactic background light is comprised of the cumulative radiation from all galaxies across the history of the universe. The angular power spectrum of the anisotropies of such a background at near-infrared (IR) frequencies lacks of a complete understanding and shows a robust excess which ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cosmology and astroparticle physics 2021-05, Vol.2021 (5), p.46
Main Authors: Caputo, Andrea, Vittino, Andrea, Fornengo, Nicolao, Regis, Marco, Taoso, Marco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
axions
Dark matter
dark matter detectors
dark matter theory
Decay
Dwarf galaxies
galaxy clustering
Hubble Space Telescope
Infrared analysis
Near infrared radiation
Particle decay
Photons
Radiation
Space telescopes
Spheroidal galaxies
Wavelengths
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Summary:The extragalactic background light is comprised of the cumulative radiation from all galaxies across the history of the universe. The angular power spectrum of the anisotropies of such a background at near-infrared (IR) frequencies lacks of a complete understanding and shows a robust excess which cannot be easily explained with known sources. Dark matter in the form of axion-like particles (ALPs) with a mass around the electronvolt will decay into two photons with wavelengths in the near-IR band, possibly contributing to the background intensity. We compute the near-IR background angular power spectrum including emissions from galaxies, as well as the contributions from the intra-halo light and ALP decay, and compare it to measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer. We find that the preferred values for the ALP mass and ALP-photon coupling to explain the excess are in tension with star cooling data and observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies.
ISSN:1475-7516
1475-7516
DOI:10.1088/1475-7516/2021/05/046