Constraints on millicharged dark matter and axion-like particles from timing of radio waves

Abstract

We derive novel constraints on millicharged dark matter and ultralight axion-like particles using pulsar timing and fast radio burst observations. Millicharged dark matter affects the dispersion measure of the time of arrival of radio pulses in a way analogous to free electrons. Light pseudo-scalar dark matter, on the other hand, causes the polarization angle of radio signals to oscillate. We show that current and future data can set strong constraints in both cases. For dark matter particles of charge $\epsilon e$, these constraints are $\epsilon /m_{\mathrm{milli}}\lesssim 10^{-8}{\mathrm{eV}}^{-1}$, for masses $m_{\mathrm{milli}}\gtrsim 10^{-6}$eV. For axion-like particles, the analysis of signals from pulsars yields constraints in the axial coupling of the order of $g/m_a\lesssim 10^{-13}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-1}/(10^{-22}\mathrm{eV})$. Both bounds scale as $(\rho /{\rho }_{\mathrm{dm}}{)}^{1/2}$ if the energy density $\rho$ of the components is a fraction of the total dark matter energy density ${\rho }_{\mathrm{dm}}$. We do a detailed study of both effects using data from two samples of pulsars in the galaxy and in globular clusters, as well as data from FRB 121102 and PSR J0437$-$4715. We show that in both cases actual pulsar data constrain a new region of the parameter space for these models, and will improve with future pulsar-timing observations.

arXiv comment6 pages, 2 figures; v3: to appear on PRD

References in corpus (43)

• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue
• The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue
• A New Electron Density Model for Estimation of Pulsar and FRB Distances
• New CAST Limit on the Axion-Photon Interaction
• The direct localization of a fast radio burst and its host
• Updated Bounds on Milli-Charged Particles
• Revisiting the SN1987A gamma-ray limit on ultralight axion-like particles
• Pulsar rotation measures and the large-scale structure of Galactic magnetic field
• Dark-Matter Electric and Magnetic Dipole Moments
• Insights on Dark Matter from Hydrogen during Cosmic Dawn
• Turning off the Lights: How Dark is Dark Matter?
• Lyman-alpha Constraints on Ultralight Scalar Dark Matter: Implications for the Early and Late Universe
• Pulsar timing signal from ultralight scalar dark matter
• Dark Matter, Millicharges, Axion and Scalar Particles, Gauge Bosons, and Other New Physics with LDMX
• Strong Constraints on Fuzzy Dark Matter from Ultrafaint Dwarf Galaxy Eridanus II
• Early-Universe Constraints on Dark Matter-Baryon Scattering and their Implications for a Global 21cm Signal
• Galactic Rotation Curves vs. Ultra-Light Dark Matter: Implications of the Soliton -- Host Halo Relation
• Constraints on dark matter interactions with standard model particles from CMB spectral distortions
• Reopening the window on charged dark matter
• Ultra-Light Dark Matter Resonates with Binary Pulsars
• Optical Ring Cavity Search for Axion Dark Matter
• Pulsar Timing Probes of Primordial Black Holes and Subhalos
• Resonant absorption of bosonic dark matter in molecules
• Constraints on ultralight scalar dark matter from pulsar timing
• Wide-Band, Low-Frequency Pulse Profiles of 100 Radio Pulsars with LOFAR
• Recognising Axionic Dark Matter by Compton and de-Broglie Scale Modulation of Pulsar Timing
• Pulsar timing can constrain primordial black holes in the LIGO mass window
• Constraining the photon coupling of ultra-light dark-matter axion-like particles by polarization variations of parsec-scale jets in active galaxies
• Investigating dark matter substructure with pulsar timing: I. Constraints on ultracompact minihalos
• Hunting Axion Dark Matter with Protoplanetary Disk Polarimetry
• A Bayesian Framework to Constrain the Photon Mass with a Catalog of Fast Radio Bursts
• CHAMP Cosmic Rays
• Black hole superradiance and polarization-dependent bending of light
• Binary pulsars as dark-matter probes
• Looking for Light Pseudoscalar Bosons in the Binary Pulsar System J0737-3039
• Dispersive Light Propagation at Cosmological Distances: Matter Effects
• Rotation measure variations for 20 millisecond pulsars
• Testing Gravity with Pulsars in the SKA Era
• Axion-like Dark Matter Constraints from CMB Birefringence
• Dark Matter Constraints from a Cosmic Index of Refraction
• Magneto-optic effects of the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Milli-charged fermion vacuum polarization in cosmic magnetic fields and generation of CMB elliptic polarization

Cited by in corpus (50)

• Wave Dark Matter
• Astrophysical limits on very light axion-like particles from Chandra grating spectroscopy of NGC 1275
• Unifying of Inflation with Early and Late Dark Energy Epochs in Axion $F(R)$ Gravity
• Probing Axions with Event Horizon Telescope Polarimetric Measurements
• Geometric Inflation and Dark Energy with Axion $F(R)$ Gravity
• Kilobyte Cosmic Birefringence from ALP Domain Walls
• Exploring the robustness of stellar cooling constraints on light particles
• Stringent axion constraints with Event Horizon Telescope polarimetric measurements of M87${}^{\star }$
• Aspects of Axion $F(R)$ Gravity
• Probing Axion-like Particles via CMB Polarization
• Improved sensitivity of interferometric gravitational wave detectors to ultralight vector dark matter from the finite light-traveling time
• Axi-Higgs Cosmology
• Testing the ALP-photon coupling with polarization measurements of Sagittarius A*
• Kinetic Axion $F(R)$ Gravity Inflation
• Axion dark matter search using arm cavity transmitted beams of gravitational wave detectors
• Milky Way Accelerometry via Millisecond Pulsar Timing
• Pulsar Polarization Arrays
• BICEP / Keck XIV: Improved constraints on axion-like polarization oscillations in the cosmic microwave background
• Cosmological Tension of Ultralight Axion Dark Matter and its Solutions
• Optical properties of dynamical axion backgrounds
• Long range dark matter self-interactions and plasma instabilities
• Gravitational waves and neutrino oscillations in Chern-Simons axion gravity
• Birefringence Tomography for Axion Cloud
• Searching for dark-matter waves with PPTA and QUIJOTE pulsar polarimetry
• Resonant instability of axionic dark matter clumps
• Constraints on axion-like polarization oscillations in the cosmic microwave background with POLARBEAR
• BICEP / Keck XII: Constraints on axion-like polarization oscillations in the cosmic microwave background
• Direct detection of vector dark matter through electromagnetic multipoles
• Axion resonances in binary pulsar systems
• Gravitational Waves and Possible Fast Radio Bursts from Axion Clumps
• Challenging the Stability of Light Millicharged Dark Matter
• Passage of millicharged particles in the electron beam-dump: refining constraints from SLACmQ and estimating sensitivity of NA64e
• Dark matter from primordial black holes would hold charge
• Swampland Bounds on Dark Sectors
• Signals of Axion Like Dark Matter in Time Dependent Polarization of Light
• Terrestrial Probes of Electromagnetically Interacting Dark Radiation
• New insights into axion freeze-in
• Dark photon dark matter and fast radio bursts
• Optical circular polarization induced by axionlike particles in blazars
• Detecting Extragalactic Axion-like Dark Matter with Polarization Measurements of Fast Radio Bursts
• Axion Cloud Decay due to the Axion-photon Conversion with Background Magnetic Fields
• Pulsar Polarization Array Limits on Ultralight Axion-like Dark Matter
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Swampland: The Cosmologist's Handbook to the string-theoretical Swampland Programme
• Pulsar timing and polarimetry: results and perspectives
• Constraining CPT-odd electromagnetic chiral parameters with pulsar timing
• Reacceleration of charged dark matter
• Could primordial galactic Magnetic Fields be generated by Charged Ultra-Light Boson Dark Matter?
• Star Shearing Season -- Transient Signals in Wave-like Dark Matter Experiments from Black Hole Formation
• Gravitational dynamics in the Higgs-dark matter sector toy model: the field theoretic perspective
• ILC sensitivity for leptophilic scalar dark matter