No Arabic abstract
The physics case for axions and axion-like particles is reviewed and an overview of ongoing and near-future laboratory searches is presented.
Axion-like particles (ALPs) and photons inter-convert in the presence of a magnetic field. At keV energies in the environment of galaxy clusters, the conversion probability can become unsuppressed for light ALPs. Conversion of thermal X-ray photons into ALPs can introduce a step-like feature into the cluster thermal bremsstrahlung spectrum, and we argue that existing X-ray data on galaxy clusters should be sufficient to extend bounds on ALPs in the low-mass region $m_a lesssim 1 times 10^{-12},{rm eV}$ down to $M sim 7times 10^{11}, {rm GeV}$, and that for $10^{11}, {rm GeV} < M lesssim 10^{12}$ GeV light ALPs give rise to interesting and unique observational signatures that may be probed by existing and upcoming X-ray (and potentially X-ray polarisation) observations of galaxy clusters.
We show that, by studying the arrival times of radio pulses from highly-magnetized transient beamed sources, it may be possible to detect light pseudo-scalar particles, such as axions and axion-like particles, whose existence could have considerable implications for the strong-CP problem of QCD as well as the dark matter problem in cosmology. Specifically, such light bosons may be detected with a much greater sensitivity, over a broad particle mass range, than is currently achievable by terrestrial experiments, and using indirect astrophysical considerations. The observable effect was discussed in Chelouche & Guendelman (2009), and is akin to the Stern-Gerlach experiment: the splitting of a photon beam naturally arises when finite coupling exists between the electro-magnetic field and the axion field. The splitting angle of the light beams linearly depends on the photon wavelength, the size of the magnetized region, and the magnetic field gradient in the transverse direction to the propagation direction of the photons. If radio emission in radio-loud magnetars is beamed and originates in regions with strong magnetic field gradients, then splitting of individual pulses may be detectable. We quantify the effect for a simplified model for magnetars, and search for radio beam splitting in the 2,GHz radio light curves of the radio loud magnetar XTE,J1810-197.
In this paper, we investigate the Axion-like Particle inflation by applying the multi-nature inflation model, where the end of inflation is achieved through the phase transition (PT). The events of PT should not be less than $200$, which results in the free parameter $ngeq404$. Under the latest CMB restrictions, we found that the inflation energy is fixed at $10^{15} rm{GeV}$. Then, we deeply discussed the corresponding stochastic background of the primordial gravitational wave (GW) during inflation. We study the two kinds of $n$ cases, i.e., $n=404, 2000$. We observe that the magnitude of $n$ is negligible for the physical observations, such as $n_s$, $r$, $Lambda$, and $Omega_{rm{GW}}h^2$. In the low-frequency regions, the GW is dominated by the quantum fluctuations, and this GW can be detected by Decigo at $10^{-1}~rm{Hz}$. However, GW generated by PT dominates the high-frequency regions, which is expected to be detected by future 3DSR detector.
Axion-like particles with masses in the keV-GeV range have a profound impact on the cosmological evolution of our Universe, in particular on the abundance of light elements produced during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. The resulting limits are complementary to searches in the laboratory and provide valuable additional information regarding the validity of a given point in parameter space. A potential drawback is that altering the cosmological history may potentially weaken or even fully invalidate these bounds. The main objective of this article is therefore to evaluate the robustness of cosmological constraints on axion-like particles in the keV-GeV region, allowing for various additional effects which may weaken the bounds of the standard scenario. Employing the latest determinations of the primordial abundances as well as information from the cosmic microwave background we find that while bounds can indeed be weakened, very relevant robust constraints remain.
We calculate the production of ultra-light axion-like particles (ALPs) in a nearby supernova progenitor. Once produced, ALPs escape from the star and a part of them is converted into photons during propagation in the Galactic magnetic field. It is found that the MeV photon flux that reaches Earth may be detectable by gamma ray telescopes for ALPs lighter than ~1 neV when Betelgeuse undergoes oxygen and silicon burning. (Non-)detection of gamma rays from a supernova progenitor with next-generation gamma ray telescopes just after pre-supernova neutrino alerts would lead to an independent constraint on ALP parameters as stringent as a SN 1987A limit.