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

Joshua W. Foster, Yonatan Kahn, Oscar Macias, Zhiquan Sun, Ralph P. Eatough, Vladislav I. Kondratiev, Wendy M. Peters, Christoph Weniger, and Benjamin R. Safdi
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 171301 – Published 20 October 2020
Physics logo See synopsis: Looking for Dark Matter in Neutron Star Light
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Abstract

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 11μeV with the strongest constraints to date on axions in the 1011μeV range.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 14 May 2020
  • Revised 26 July 2020
  • Accepted 17 September 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.171301

© 2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsParticles & Fields

synopsis

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Looking for Dark Matter in Neutron Star Light

Published 20 October 2020

Radio observations of neutron stars demonstrate a way to search for axions through their expected conversion to electromagnetic waves in a star’s magnetic field.

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Authors & Affiliations

Joshua W. Foster1,*, Yonatan Kahn2, Oscar Macias3,4, Zhiquan Sun1, Ralph P. Eatough5,6, Vladislav I. Kondratiev7,8, Wendy M. Peters9, Christoph Weniger4,†, and Benjamin R. Safdi1,‡

  • 1Leinweber Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
  • 2University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
  • 3Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan
  • 4GRAPPA Institute, Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 5National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
  • 6Max-Planck-Institut fur Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hugel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
  • 7ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, Netherlands
  • 8Astro Space Centre, Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya Street 84/32, Moscow 117997, Russia
  • 9Naval Research Laboratory, Remote Sensing Division, Code 7213, Washington, DC 20375-5320, USA

  • *fosterjw@umich.edu
  • C.Weniger@uva.nl
  • bsafdi@umich.edu

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Issue

Vol. 125, Iss. 17 — 23 October 2020

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