An independent limit on the axion mass from the variable white dwarf star R548

Abstract

Pulsating white dwarfs with hydrogen-rich atmospheres, also known as DAV stars, can be used as astrophysical laboratories to constrain the properties of fundamental particles like axions. Comparing the measured cooling rates of these stars with the expected values from theoretical models allows us to search for sources of additional cooling due to the emission of weakly interacting particles. In this paper, we present an independent inference of the mass of the axion using the recent determination of the evolutionary cooling rate of R548, the DAV class prototype. We employ a state-of-the-art code which allows us to perform a detailed asteroseismological fit based on fully evolutionary sequences. Stellar cooling is the solely responsible of the rates of change of period with time ($\dot{\Pi }$) for the DAV class. Thus, the inclusion of axion emission in these sequences notably influences the evolutionary timescales, and also the expected pulsational properties of the DAV stars. This allows us to compare the theoretical $\dot{\Pi }$ values to the corresponding empirical rate of change of period with time of R548 to discern the presence of axion cooling. We found that if the dominant period at 213.13 s in R548 is associated with a pulsation mode trapped in the hydrogen envelope, our models indicate the existence of additional cooling in this pulsating white dwarf, consistent with axions of mass $m_{\mathrm{a}}{\cos }^2\beta \sim 17.1$ meV at a 2$\sigma$ confidence level. This determination is in agreement with the value inferred from another well-studied DAV, G117$-$B15A. We now have two independent and consistent estimates of the mass of the axion obtained from DAVs, although additional studies of other pulsating white dwarfs are needed to confirm this value of the axion mass.

12 pages, 2 tables, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

References in corpus (11)

• Pulsating White Dwarf Stars and Precision Asteroseismology
• Axions and the cooling of white dwarf stars
• Toward ensemble asteroseismology of ZZ Ceti stars with fully evolutionary models
• Asteroseismic inferences on GW Vir variable stars in the frame of new PG 1159 evolutionary models
• Axions - Motivation, limits and searches
• The rate of cooling of the pulsating white dwarf star G117$-$B15A: a new asteroseismological inference of the axion mass
• The meV mass frontier of axion physics
• Axions and the white dwarf luminosity function
• Strong limits on the DFSZ axion mass with G117-B15A
• Fine Grid Asteroseismology of R548 and G117-B15A
• New developments of the ZZ Ceti instability strip: The discovery of eleven new variables

Cited by in corpus (54)

• New experimental approaches in the search for axion-like particles
• Experimental Searches for the Axion and Axion-like Particles
• New evolutionary sequences for extremely low mass white dwarfs: Homogeneous mass and age determinations, and asteroseismic prospects
• Neutrino and axion bounds from the globular cluster M5 (NGC 5904)
• Physics potential of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO)
• Pulsating white dwarfs: new insights
• Cool WISPs for stellar cooling excesses
• Revisiting the axion bounds from the Galactic white dwarf luminosity function
• Solar axion flux from the axion-electron coupling
• The Quest for an Intermediate-Scale Accidental Axion and Further ALPs
• CAST constraints on the axion-electron coupling
• Axion hot dark matter bounds after Planck
• Solar axions cannot explain the XENON1T excess
• Asteroseismological study of massive ZZ Ceti stars with fully evolutionary models
• An asteroseismic constraint on the mass of the axion from the period drift of the pulsating DA white dwarf star L19-2
• Constraining the neutrino magnetic dipole moment from white dwarf pulsations
• Revisiting longitudinal plasmon-axion conversion in external magnetic fields
• An independent constraint on the secular rate of variation of the gravitational constant from pulsating white dwarfs
• Hidden Photon Dark Matter in the Light of XENON1T and Stellar Cooling
• Stellar Basins of Gravitationally Bound Particles
• Axion Astrophysics
• Axions and the luminosity function of white dwarfs. The thin and thick disks, and the halo
• Weighing the Solar Axion
• Global fits of axion-like particles to XENON1T and astrophysical data
• Searches for sterile neutrinos and axionlike particles from the Galactic halo with eROSITA
• First axion bounds from a pulsating helium-rich white dwarf star
• A New Signal Model for Axion Cavity Searches from N-Body Simulations
• GAMBIT and its Application in the Search for Physics Beyond the Standard Model
• White dwarfs as Physics laboratories: lights and shadows
• Distinguishing Axion Models with IAXO
• Axion global fits with Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking before inflation using GAMBIT
• Probing the structure of Kepler ZZ Ceti stars with full evolutionary models-based asteroseismology
• ALP production through non-linear Compton scattering in intense fields
• Quiescent nuclear burning in low-metallicity white dwarfs
• The pulsating white dwarf G117-B15A: still the most stable optical clock known
• Axion-Higgs interplay in the two Higgs-doublet model
• Pulsating low-mass white dwarfs in the frame of new evolutionary sequences: IV. The secular rate of period change
• Pulsating White Dwarfs
• Compact model for Quarks and Leptons via flavored-Axions
• Stellar cooling anomalies and variant axion models
• Axion Structure Formation I: The Co-motion Picture
• Axion and Neutrino physics in a $U(1)$-enhanced supersymmetric model
• Prospects for Axion Dark Matter Searches at LISA-like Interferometers
• Probing the dark matter-electron interactions via hydrogen-atmosphere pulsating white dwarfs
• Interference-assisted resonant detection of axions
• Ultralight Particle Dark Matter
• White Dwarf Stars
• Astrophysical Searches and Constraints on Ultralight Bosonic Dark Matter
• Digging into Axion Physics with (Baby)IAXO
• White Dwarfs as Advanced Physics Laboratories. The Axion case
• Hints of new physics from stars
• A Large Catalog of DA White Dwarf Characteristics Using SDSS and Gaia Observations
• The rate of period change in DAV stars
• Solar Axion search with Micromegas detectors in the CAST Experiment with ${}^3$He as buffer gas