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Register a new userX-ray annual modulation observed by XMM-Newton and Axion Quark Nugget Dark Matter
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Added by
Ludovic van Waerbeke
Publication date
2020
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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The XMM-Newton observatory shows evidence with an $11 sigma$ confidence level for seasonal variation of the X-ray background in the near-Earth environment in the 2-6 keV energy range (Fraser et al. 2014). The interpretation of the seasonal variation given in Fraser et al. 2014 was based on the assumption that solar axions convert to X-rays in the Earths magnetic field. There are many problems with this interpretation, since the axion-photon conversion must preserve the directionality of the incoming solar axion. At the same time, this direction is avoided by the observations because the XMM-Newtons operations exclude pointing at the Sun and at the Earth. The observed seasonal variation suggests that the signal could have a dark matter origin, since it is very difficult to explain with conventional astrophysical sources. We propose an alternative explanation which involves the so-called Axion Quark Nugget (AQN) dark matter model. In our proposal, dark matter is made of AQNs, which can cross the Earth and emit high energy photons at their exit. We show that the emitted intensity and spectrum is consistent with Fraser et al. 2014, and that our calculation is not sensitive to the specific details of the model. We also find that our proposal predicts a large seasonal variation, on the level of 20-25%, much larger than conventional dark matter models (1-10%). Since the AQN emission spectrum extends up to $sim$100 keV, well beyond the keV sensitivity of XMM-Newton, we predict the AQN contribution to the hard X-ray and $gamma$-ray backgrounds in the Earths environment. The Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor instrument (GBM), aboard the Fermi telescope, is sensitive to the 8 keV-40 MeV energy band. We suggest that the multi-year archival data from the GBM could be used to search for a seasonal variation in the near-Earth environment up to 100 keV as a future test of the AQN framework.
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We explore the possibility that the Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are powered by magnetic reconnection in magnetars, triggered by Axion Quark Nugget (AQN) dark matter. In this model, the magnetic reconnection is ignited by the shock wave which develops when the nuggets Mach number $M gg 1$. These shock waves generate very strong and very short impulses expressed in terms of pressure $Delta p/psim M^2$ and temperature $Delta T/Tsim M^2$ in the vicinity of (would be) magnetic reconnection area. We find that the proposed mechanism produces a coherent emission which is consistent with current data, in particular the FRB energy requirements, the observed energy distribution, the frequency range and the burst duration. Our model allows us to propose additional tests which future data will be able to challenge.
In this work we advocate for the idea that two seemingly unrelated 80-year-old mysteries - the nature of dark matter and the high temperature of the million degree solar corona - may have resolutions that lie within the same physical framework. The current paradigm is that the corona is heated by nanoflares, which were originally proposed as miniatu
The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) recorded cite{Mondal-2020} impulsive radio events in the quiet solar corona at frequencies 98, 120, 132, and 160 MHz. We propose that these radio events are the direct manifestation of dark matter annihilation events within the axion quark nugget (AQN) framework. It has been argued cite{Zhitnitsky:2017rop,Raza:2018gpb} that the AQN annihilation events in the quiet solar corona can be identified with the nanoflares conjectured by Parker cite{Parker-1983}. We further support this claim by demonstrating that observed impulsive radio events cite{Mondal-2020}, including their rate of appearance, their temporal and spatial distributions and their energetics, are matching the generic consequences of AQN annihilations in the quiet corona. We propose to test this idea by analyzing the correlated clustering of impulsive radio events in different frequency bands. These correlations are expressed in terms of the time delays between radio events in different frequency bands, measured in seconds. We also make generic predictions for low (80 and 89 MHz) and high (179, 196, 217 and 240 MHz) frequency bands, that have been recorded, but not published, by cite{Mondal-2020}. We finally suggest to test our proposal by studying possible cross-correlation between MWA radio signals and Solar Orbiter recording of extreme UV photons (a.k.a. campfires).
We study the new mechanism of the axion production suggested recently in [1,2]. This mechanism is based on the so-called Axion Quark Nugget (AQN) dark matter model, which was originally invented to explain the similarity of the dark and visible cosmological matter densities. We perform numerical simulations to evaluate the axion flux on the Earths surface. We examine annual and daily modulations, which have been studied previously and are known to occur for any type of dark matter. We also discuss a novel type of short time enhancements which are unique to the AQN model: the statistical fluctuations and burst-like amplification, both of which can drastically amplify the axion signal, up to a factor $sim10^2-10^3$ for a very short period of time. The present work studies the AQN-induced axions within the mass window $10^{-6}{rm,eV}lesssim m_alesssim10^{-3}rm,eV$ with typical velocities $langle v_aranglesim0.6c$. We also comment on the broadband detection strategy to search for such relativistic axions by studying the daily and annual time modulations as well as random burst-like amplifications.
The DAMA experiment using ultra low background NaI(Tl) crystal scintillators has measured an annual modulation effect in the keV region which satisfies all the peculiarities of an effect induced by Dark Matter particles. In this paper we analyze this annual modulation effect in terms of mirror Dark Matter, an exact duplicate of ordinary matter from parallel hidden sector, which chemical composition is dominated by mirror helium while it can also contain significant fractions of heavier elements as Carbon and Oxygen. Dark mirror atoms are considered to interact with the target nuclei in the detector via Rutherford-like scattering induced by kinetic mixing between mirror and ordinary photons, both being massless. In the present analysis we consider various possible scenarios for the mirror matter chemical composition. For all the scenarios, the relevant ranges for the kinetic mixing parameter have been obtained taking also into account various existing uncertainties in nuclear and particle physics quantities.
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