Searching for axion stars and $Q$-balls with a terrestrial magnetometer network
| Autor: | Arne Wickenbrock, Szymon Pustelny, Dmitry Budker, Theo Scholtes, Maxim Pospelov, D. F. Jackson Kimball, Joshua Eby, Yevgeny V. Stadnik, Antoine Weis |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph)
media_common.quotation_subject Scalar (mathematics) Dark matter FOS: Physical sciences Astrophysics Parameter space 01 natural sciences Physics - Atomic Physics Q-ball High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) 0103 physical sciences 010306 general physics Axion Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) media_common Physics Quantum Physics 010308 nuclear & particles physics Astronomy Universe Pseudoscalar Stars High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Quantum Physics (quant-ph) |
| Zdroj: | Physical Review D |
| Popis: | Light (pseudo-)scalar fields are promising candidates to be the dark matter in the Universe. Under certain initial conditions in the early Universe and/or with certain types of self-interactions, they can form compact dark-matter objects such as axion stars or Q-balls. Direct encounters with such objects can be searched for by using a global network of atomic magnetometers. It is shown that for a range of masses and radii not ruled out by existing observations, the terrestrial encounter rate with axion stars or Q-balls can be sufficiently high (at least once per year) for a detection. Furthermore, it is shown that a global network of atomic magnetometers is sufficiently sensitive to pseudoscalar couplings to atomic spins so that a transit through an axion star or Q-ball could be detected over a broad range of unexplored parameter space. Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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