Related papers: Cosmological bounds on sub-MeV mass axions
If dark matter decays to electromagnetically-interacting particles, it can inject energy into the baryonic gas and thus affect the processes of recombination and reionization. This leaves an imprint on the cosmic microwave background (CMB):…
Recent improvements in astronomical observations lead to the conclusion that the Hubble constant lies between 60 and 80 Mpc km$^{-1}$ sec$^{-1}$ and the age of the universe between 11 and 14 Gigayears. Taken together with recent…
Relativistic axions are good candidates for the dark radiation for which there are mounting observational hints. The primordial decays of heavy fields produce axions which are ultra-energetic compared to thermalised matter and inelastic…
We investigate cosmological and astrophysical constraints on dark photons with masses $\sim 10^{-1}$-$10^3$ MeV. These dark photons can be copiously produced either in the early universe or during core-collapse supernovae, potentially…
Neutrinos heavier than $M_Z/2\sim 45$ GeV are not excluded by particle physics data. Stable neutrinos heavier than this might contribute to the cosmic gamma ray background through annihilation in distant galaxies as well as to the dark…
Thermal dark matter at the MeV scale faces stringent bounds from a variety of cosmological probes. Here we perform a detailed evaluation of BBN bounds on the annihilation cross section of dark matter with a mass $1\,\text{MeV} \lesssim…
We provide updates to the limits on solar emission of dark photons, or more generally any light vector particle coupled to the electron vector current. The recent 2019 and 2020 electronic recoil data from XENON1T now provides more stringent…
We examine the cosmological consequences of the heavy quarks in KSVZ-type axion models. We find that their presence often causes an early matter domination phase, altering the evolution of the Universe. This extends the axion mass into the…
If dark matter is composed of axions, then axion stars form in the cores of dark matter halos. These stars are unstable above a critical mass, decaying to radio photons that heat the intergalactic medium, offering a new channel for axion…
It has been suggested that the internal dynamics of dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) can be used to test whether or not ultralight axions with $m_a\sim 10^{-22}\text{eV}$ are a preferred dark matter candidate. However, comparisons to…
The possibility to use $\gamma$--ray data from the Galactic Center (GC) to constrain the cosmological evolution of the Universe in a phase prior to primordial nucleosyntesis, namely around the time of cold dark matter (CDM) decoupling, is…
We provide a fresh look at the cosmological constraints on axion-like particles (ALPs) that couple predominantly to photons, focusing on lifetimes $\tau_{a} \lesssim 10^{4}\, {\rm s}$ and masses $m_a\lesssim 10\,{\rm GeV}$. We consider Big…
We consider particle decays during the cosmic dark ages with two aims: (1) to explain the high optical depth reported by WMAP, and (2) to provide new constraints to the parameter space for decaying particles. We delineate the decay channels…
Terrestrial and ``Heavenly'' experiments severely constrain the mass and lifetime of an MeV tau neutrino. Irrespective of decay mode, for $\tau_\nu \ga 300\sec$ the mass of the tau neutrino must be either approximately $30\MeV$ or less than…
The observation of cosmic sub-PeV gamma-rays from the Crab Nebula opens up the possibility of testing cosmic ray photon transparency at the multi-hundred TeV scale. Assuming no deviation from a source gamma-ray emission due to accelerated…
The metastable hypermassive neutron star produced in the coalescence of two neutron stars can copiously produce axions that radiatively decay into $\mathcal{O}(100)$~MeV photons. These photons can form a fireball with characteristic…
We present a new mechanism to deplete the energy density of the QCD axion, making decay constants as high as $f_a \simeq 10^{17}\,\rm{GeV}$ viable for generic initial conditions. In our setup, the axion couples to a massless dark photon…
Constraints on the indirect detection of dark matter are usually obtained from observations of astrophysical objects -- the Galactic Center, dwarf galaxies, M31, etc. Here we propose instead to look for the annihilation or decay of dark…
The strong CP problem and its resolution through the existence of an axion are briefly reviewed. The constraints on the axion from accelerator searches, from the evolution of red giants and from supernova SN1987a combine to require $m_a < 3…
We consider the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) bounds on light dark matter whose cross section off nucleons is sufficiently large to enable acceleration by scattering off of cosmic rays in the local galaxy. Such accelerated DM could then…