Green Bank and Effelsberg Radio Telescope Searches for Axion Dark Matter Conversion in Neutron Star Magnetospheres

Axion dark matter (DM) may convert to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation in the strong magnetic fields around neutron stars. The radio signature of such a process would be an ultranarrow spectral peak at a frequency determined by the mass of the axion particle. We analyze data we collected fr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2020-10, Vol.125 (17), p.1
Main Authors: Foster, Joshua W, Kahn, Yonatan, Macias, Oscar, Sun, Zhiquan, Eatough, Ralph P, Kondratiev, Vladislav I, Peters, Wendy M, Weniger, Christoph, Safdi, Benjamin R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Conversion
Dark matter
Electromagnetic radiation
Magnetospheres
Milky Way
Neutron stars
Neutrons
Physics
PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
Radio astronomy
Radio telescopes
Stellar magnetic fields
Superhigh frequencies
Telescopes
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Summary:Axion dark matter (DM) may convert to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation in the strong magnetic fields around neutron stars. The radio signature of such a process would be an ultranarrow spectral peak at a frequency determined by the mass of the axion particle. We analyze data we collected from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in the L band and the Effelsberg 100-m Telescope in the L band and S band from a number of sources expected to produce bright signals of axion-photon conversion, including the Galactic center of the Milky Way and the nearby isolated neutron stars RX J0720.4-3125 and RX J0806.4-4123. We find no evidence for axion DM and are able to set constraints on the existence of axion DM in the highly motivated mass range between ∼ 5 and 11 μ eV with the strongest constraints to date on axions in the ∼ 10 – 11 μ eV range.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.171301