Abstract
Light axion fields, if they exist, can be sourced by neutron stars due to their coupling to nuclear matter, and play a role in binary neutron star mergers. We report on a search for such axions by analyzing the gravitational waves from the binary neutron star inspiral GW170817. We find no evidence of axions in the sampled parameter space. The null result allows us to impose constraints on axions with masses below by excluding the ones with decay constants ranging from to at a confidence level. Our analysis provides the first constraints on axions from neutron star inspirals, and rules out a large region in parameter space that has not been probed by the existing experiments.
- Received 7 June 2021
- Accepted 15 September 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.161101
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.
Published by the American Physical Society