Related papers: Solar axions cannot explain the XENON1T excess
The evolution of white dwarfs can be described as a simple cooling process. Recently, it has been possible to determine with an unprecedented precision their luminosity function, that is, the number of stars per unit volume and luminosity…
The bright transient AT2018cow has been unlike any other known type of transient. Its high brightness, rapid rise and decay and initially nearly featureless spectrum are unprecedented and difficult to explain using models for similar burst…
The recent XENON1T excess in the electron recoil data can be explained by anomaly-free axion-like particle (ALP) dark matter with mass $m_\phi = 2.3 \pm 0.2\,$keV and the decay constant $f_\phi/q_e \simeq 2 \times 10^{10}…
The potential existence of a distant planet ("Planet Nine") in the Solar system has prompted a re-think about the evolution of planetary systems. As the Sun transitions from a main sequence star into a white dwarf, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus…
White dwarfs are the end-product of the lifes of intermediate- and low-mass stars and their evolution is described as a simple cooling process. Recently, it has been possible to determine with an unprecedented precision their luminosity…
We study an anomaly in the X-ray flux (or luminosity) ratio between the OVII 21.6-22.1A triplet and the OVIII Lya line seen in classical T Tauri stars (CTTS). This ratio is unusually high when compared with ratios for main-sequence and…
The shape of the luminosity function of white dwarfs (WDLF) is sensitive to the characteristic cooling time and, therefore, it can be used to test the existence of additional sources or sinks of energy such as those predicted by alternative…
If the dark matter is composed of axions, then axion stars are expected to be abundant in the Universe. We demonstrate in fully non-linear (3+1) numerical relativity the instability of compact axion stars due to the electromagnetic…
The measured rates of period change, $\dot{P}$, in the signals of pulsating white dwarf stars are often interpreted as direct detections of structural changes from secular cooling. Due to the intrinsic nature of this quantity, $\dot{P}$…
We show that the soft X-ray excess in the Coma cluster can be explained by a cosmic background of relativistic axions converting into photons in the cluster magnetic field. We provide a detailed self-contained review of the cluster soft…
We consider the issue of excessive TTV noise observed for the exoplanet HD 189733 b. Trying to explain it through the host star photospheric activity, we model the stellar surface brightness as a random field, then characterize statistical…
Density and temperature conditions in the solar core suggest that the microscopic diffusion of electrons and ions could be nonstandard: Diffusion and friction coefficients are energy dependent, collisions are not two-body processes and…
White dwarf (WD) stars may radiate keV-energy axions produced in their stellar cores. This has been extensively studied as an extra channel by which WDs may cool, with some analyses even suggesting that axions can help explain the observed…
Relativistic axions can be readily produced in a broad variety of transient sources, such as axion star bosenova explosions, supernovae or even evaporating primordial black holes. We develop a general framework describing the resulting…
We pioneer the black hole mass gap as a powerful new tool for constraining new particles. A new particle that couples to the Standard Model---such as an axion---acts as an additional source of loss in the cores of population-III stars,…
We treat prospects for multimessenger astronomy with giant flares (GFs), a rare transient event featured by magnetars that can be as luminous as a hundred of the brightest supernovae ever observed. The beamed photons could correlate with an…
Massive stars exhibit spectroscopic and photometric variability over a wide range of timescales. However the physical mechanisms driving this behaviour remain poorly understood. Westerlund 1 presents an ideal laboratory for studying these…
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 report the detection of a time variable OVII line emission in a deep 100 ks Suzaku X-ray Imaging Spectrometer spectrum of the Galactic Ridge X-ray emission. The observed line intensity is too strong (11+/-2 line unit or photon cm^-2 s^-1…
Wilhelm et al. have recently called attention to the unidentified broad emission features near 117 nm in the solar spectrum. They discuss the observed properties of these features in detail but do not identify the source of this emission.…