The large-misalignment mechanism for the formation of compact axion structures
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Axions are some of the best motivated particles beyond the Standard Model. We show how the attractive self-interactions of dark matter (DM) axions over a broad range of masses, from 10^-22 eV to 10^7 GeV, can lead to nongravitational growth of density fluctuations and the formation of bound objects. This structure formation enhancement is driven by parametric resonance when the initial field misalignment is large, and it affects axion density perturbations on length scales of order the Hubble horizon when the axion field starts oscillating, deep inside the radiation-dominated era. This effect can turn an otherwise nearly scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic perturbations into one that has a spike at the aforementioned scales, producing objects ranging from dense DM halos to scalar-field configurations such as solitons and oscillons. We call this class of cosmological scenarios for axion DM production "the large-misalignment mechanism." We explore observational consequences of this mechanism for axions with masses up to 10 eV. For axions heavier than 10^-5 eV, the compact axion halos are numerous enough to significantly impact Earth-bound direct detection experiments, yielding intermittent but coherent signals with repetition rates exceeding one per decade and crossing times less than a day. These episodic increases in the axion density and kinematic coherence suggest new approaches for axion DM searches, including for the QCD axion. Dense structures made up of axions from 10^-22 eV to 10^-5 eV are detectable through gravitational lensing searches, and their gravitational interactions can also perturb baryonic structures and alter star formation. At very high misalignment amplitudes, the axion field can undergo self-interaction-induced implosions long before matter-radiation equality, producing potentially-detectable low-frequency stochastic gravitational waves.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2023; ©2023 |
| Publication date | 2023; 2023 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Thompson, Jedidiah Oliver |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Dimopoulos, Savas |
| Thesis advisor | Dimopoulos, Savas |
| Thesis advisor | Graham, Peter |
| Thesis advisor | Silverstein, Eva |
| Degree committee member | Graham, Peter |
| Degree committee member | Silverstein, Eva |
| Associated with | Stanford University, School of Humanities and Sciences |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Physics |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Jedidiah Oliver Thompson. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Physics. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2023. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/pq570jv5849 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2023 by Jedidiah Oliver Thompson
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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