The axion shield

Abstract

We investigate the propagation of a charged particle in a spatially constant, but time dependent, pseudoscalar background. Physically this pseudoscalar background could be provided by a relic axion density. The background leads to an explicit breaking of Lorentz invariance; as a consequence the process p-> p gamma is possible and the background acts as a shield against extremely energetic cosmic rays, an effect somewhat similar to the GZK cut-off effect. The effect is model independent and can be computed exactly. The hypothetical detection of the photons radiated via this mechanism would provide an indirect way of verifying the cosmological relevance of axions.

References in corpus (3)

• On the consistency of Lorentz invariance violation in QED induced by fermions in constant axial-vector background
• Anomalous positron excess from Lorentz-violating QED
• Spontaneous P-violation in QCD in extreme conditions

Cited by in corpus (11)

• New experimental approaches in the search for axion-like particles
• Optical Ring Cavity Search for Axion Dark Matter
• Axion Dark Matter Search with Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors
• Dilepton excess from local parity breaking in baryon matter
• Axion dark matter search using arm cavity transmitted beams of gravitational wave detectors
• Photon propagation in a cold axion background with and without magnetic field
• Analysis of dilepton angular distributions in a parity breaking medium
• Confusing the extragalactic neutrino flux limit with a neutrino propagation limit
• Propagation of photons and massive vector mesons between a parity breaking medium and vacuum
• Axions and high-energy cosmic rays: Can the relic axion density be measured?
• Parity Breaking Medium and Squeeze Operators