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Register a new userCMB birefringence from ultra-light axion string networks
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The polarization of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) photons is rotated as they pass through (ultralight-) axion string loops. Studying this birefringence can reveal valuable information about the axion-photon coupling and the structure of the string network. We develop an approximate analytic formalism and identify a kernel function that can be used to calculate the two-point correlation function for CMB birefringence induced by an arbitrary axion string network. Using this formalism, we evaluate the birefringence signal for some simple loop distributions (including scaling and network collapse). We find that the angular correlation function has a characteristic angular scale set by $theta_mathrm{min}$, which corresponds to the angular extent of the loops at the time of recombination. This results in a peak in the birefringence power spectrum around $ell_p sim 1/theta_mathrm{min}$. An additional scale, controlled by the axions mass, is introduced if the network collapses before today.
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Axion-like particles are dark matter candidates motivated by the Peccei-Quinn mechanism and also occur in effective field theories where their masses and photon couplings are independent. We estimate the dispersion of circularly polarized photons in a background of oscillating axion-like particles (ALPs) with the standard $g_{agamma},a,F_{mu u}tilde F^{mu u}/4$ coupling to photons. This leads to birefringence or rotation of linear polarization by ALP dark matter. Cosmic microwave background (CMB) birefringence limits $Delta alpha lesssim (1.0)^circ$ enable us to constrain the axion-photon coupling $g_{agamma} lesssim 10^{-17}-10^{-12},{rm GeV}^{-1}$, for ultra-light ALP masses $m_a sim 10^{-27} - 10^{-24}$ eV. This improves upon previous axion-photon coupling limits by up to four orders of magnitude. Future CMB observations could tighten limits by another one to two orders.
We present forecasts on the detectability of Ultra-light axion-like particles (ULAP) from future 21cm radio observations around the epoch of reionization (EoR). We show that the axion as the dominant dark matter component has a significant impact on the reionization history due to the suppression of small scale density perturbations in the early universe. This behavior depends strongly on the mass of the axion particle. Using numerical simulations of the brightness temperature field of neutral hydrogen over a large redshift range, we construct a suite of training data. This data is used to train a convolutional neural network that can build a connection between the spatial structures of the brightness temperature field and the input axion mass directly. We construct mock observations of the future Square Kilometer Array survey, SKA1-Low, and find that even in the presence of realistic noise and resolution constraints, the network is still able to predict the input axion mass. We find that the axion mass can be recovered over a wide mass range with a precision of approximately 20%, and as the whole DM contribution, the axion can be detected using SKA1-Low at 68% if the axion mass is $M_X<1.86 times10^{-20}$eV although this can decrease to $M_X<5.25 times10^{-21}$eV if we relax our assumptions on the astrophysical modeling by treating those astrophysical parameters as nuisance parameters.
We study the approach to scaling in axion string networks in the radiation era, through measuring the root-mean-square velocity $v$ as well as the scaled mean string separation $x$. We find good evidence for a fixed point in the phase-space analysis in the variables $(x,v)$, providing a strong indication that standard scaling is taking place. We show that the approach to scaling can be well described by a two parameter velocity-one-scale (VOS) model, and show that the values of the parameters are insensitive to the initial state of the network. The string length has also been commonly expressed in terms of a dimensionless string length density $zeta$, proportional to the number of Hubble lengths of string per Hubble volume. In simulations with initial conditions far from the fixed point $zeta$ is still evolving after half a light-crossing time, which has been interpreted in the literature as a long-term logarithmic growth. We show that all our simulations, even those starting far from the fixed point, are accounted for by a VOS model with an asymptote of $zeta_*=1.20pm0.09$ (calculated from the string length in the cosmic rest frame) and $v_* = 0.609pm 0.014$.
Ultra-light axion-like particle (ULAP) is one of attractive candidates for cold dark matter. Because the de Broglie wavelength of ULAP with mass $sim 10^{-22} {rm eV}$ is $mathcal{O}({rm kpc})$, the suppression of the small scale structure by the uncertainty principle can solve the core-cusp problem. Frequently, ULAP is assumed to be uniformly distributed in the present universe. In typical ULAP potentials, however, strong self-resonance at the beginning of oscillation invokes the large fluctuations, which may cause the formation of the dense localized object, oscillon. % Such a dense object lives for a long time, it may affect the cosmological evolution. In this paper, we confirm the oscillon formation in a ULAP potential by numerical simulation and analytically derive its lifetime.
Cosmological observations are used to test for imprints of an ultra-light axion-like field (ULA), with a range of potentials $V(phi)propto[1-cos(phi/f)]^n$ set by the axion-field value $phi$ and decay constant $f$. Scalar field dynamics dictate that the field is initially frozen and then begins to oscillate around its minimum when the Hubble parameter drops below some critical value. For $n!=!1$, once dynamical, the axion energy density dilutes as matter; for $n!=!2$ it dilutes as radiation and for $n!=!3$ it dilutes faster than radiation. Both the homogeneous evolution of the ULA and the dynamics of its linear perturbations are included, using an effective fluid approximation generalized from the usual $n=1$ case. ULA models are parameterized by the redshift $z_c$ when the field becomes dynamical, the fractional energy density $f_{z_c} equiv Omega_a(z_c)/Omega_{rm tot}(z_c)$ in the axion field at $z_c$, and the effective sound speed $c_s^2$. Using Planck, BAO and JLA data, constraints on $f_{z_c}$ are obtained. ULAs are degenerate with dark energy for all three potentials if $1+z_c lesssim 10$. When $3times10^4 gtrsim 1+z_c gtrsim 10 $, $f_{z_c}$ is constrained to be $ lesssim 0.004 $ for $n=1$ and $f_{z_c} lesssim 0.02 $ for the other two potentials. The constraints then relax with increasing $z_c$. These results strongly constrain ULAs as a resolution to cosmological tensions, such as discrepant measurements of the Hubble constant, or the EDGES measurement of the global 21 cm signal.
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