Related papers: How a cold axion background influences photons
A dark photon may kinetically mix with the Standard Model photon, leading to observable cosmological signatures. The mixing is resonantly enhanced when the dark photon mass matches the primordial plasma frequency, which depends sensitively…
Axions and axion-like particles can be generated in the early universe through mechanisms such as misalignment production, thermal processes, and the decay of topological defects. In this study, we show that scalar perturbations in the…
We present a class of models in which the coupling of the photon to an ultralight scalar field that has a time-dependent vacuum expectation value causes the fine structure constant to oscillate in time. The scalar field is assumed to…
We report on recent results obtained by analyzing axion--photon mixing in the framework of quantum field theory. We obtain corrections to the oscillation formulae and we reveal a new effect of the vacuum polarization due to the non-zero…
QCD axions are a well-motivated candidate for cold dark matter. Cold axions are produced in the early universe by vacuum realignment, axion string decay and axion domain wall decay. We show that cold axions thermalize via their…
Axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) remain highly motivated extensions to the standard model due to their ability to address open questions such as the relic abundance of dark matter and the strong CP problem. Axions are also capable of…
We investigate the possible parametric growth of photon amplitudes in a background of axion-like particle (ALP) dark matter. The observed extragalactic background radiation limits the allowed enhancement effect. We derive the resulting…
The relic density of dark matter in the $\Lambda$CDM model restricts the parameter space for a cosmological axion field, constraining the axion decay constant, the initial amplitude of the axion field and the axion mass. It is shown via…
The axion, as a leading dark matter candidate, is the target of many ongoing and proposed experimental searches based on its coupling to photons. Ultralight axions that couple to photons can also cause polarization rotation of light, which…
An interaction of a pseudoscalar particle with two photons induced by an external electromagnetic field is used to study the photon decay $\gamma \to \gamma a$ where a is a pseudoscalar particle associated with the Peccei-Quinn U(1)…
We present a mechanism for generating ultralight dark photon dark matter in the early Universe via a dilatonlike scalar field coupled to the dark photon's kinetic term. Energy is initially stored in the condensate of the dilaton, which…
We present some bottom-up motivations of axions and other weakly interacting sub-eV particles (WISPs) coupling to photons. Typically, these light particles are strongly constrained by their production or interaction in astrophysical and…
Oscillating ultra-light scalar fields are a natural explanation for the dark matter in our universe, as long as a mechanism, often called a misalignment mechanism, exists to explain the amplitude of the scalar oscillations. If the dark…
Axion clumps in an external magnetic field can emit electromagnetic radiation which causes them to decay. In the presence of a plasma, such radiation can become resonant if the clump frequency matches the plasma frequency. Typically, the…
We discuss spectral distortions, time delays and refraction of light in an axion or axion-plasma background. This involves solving the full set of geodesic equations associated to the system of Hamiltonian optics, allowing us to…
We investigate the bursts of electromagnetic and scalar radiation resulting from the collision, and merger of oscillons made from axion-like particles using 3+1 dimensional lattice simulations of the coupled axion-gauge field system. The…
Theoretical arguments predict that the distribution of cold dark matter in spiral galaxies has peaks in velocity space associated with non-thermalized flows of dark matter particles. We searched for the corresponding peaks in the spectrum…
Understanding axion production in the early Universe remains a pivotal challenge, given the axion as a compelling cold dark matter candidate. Conventional misalignment scenarios often overlook the possibility that a large initial axion…
During cosmic recombination, charged particles bind into neutral atoms and the mean free path of photons rapidly increases, resulting in the familiar diffusion damping of primordial radiation temperature variations. An additional effect is…
The axion photon system in an external magnetic field, when for example considered with the geometry of the experiments exploring axion photon mixing, displays a continuous axion-photon duality symmetry in the limit the axion mass is…