Searching for axion-like particles under strong gravitational lenses

Abstract

We establish strong gravitational lens systems as robust probes of axion-like particles (ALPs) -- a candidate for dark matter. A tiny interaction of photons with ALPs induces birefringence. Multiple images of gravitationally lensed polarised objects allow differential birefringence measurement, alleviating systematics and astrophysical dependencies. We apply this novel method to the lens system CLASS B1152+199 and constrain ALP-photon coupling $\le 9.2\times 10^{-11}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-1}\text{ to }7.7\times 10^{-8}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-1}$ ($95\%$ C.L.) for ALP mass between $3.6\times 10^{-21}\mathrm{eV}$ and $4.6\times 10^{-18}\mathrm{eV}$. A larger sample will improve the constraints.

arXiv comment6 pages, 3 figures, reference updated, Submitted

References in corpus (27)

• Quintessence and the Rest of the World
• New CAST Limit on the Axion-Photon Interaction
• New experimental approaches in the search for axion-like particles
• Experimental Searches for the Axion and Axion-like Particles
• The Sloan Lens ACS Survey. III - The Structure and Formation of Early-type Galaxies and their Evolution since z~1
• A New Era in the Quest for Dark Matter
• A search for ultra-light axions using precision cosmological data
• Pulsar timing signal from ultralight scalar dark matter
• Complex Faraday depth structure of Active Galactic Nuclei as revealed by broadband radio polarimetry
• Axion Dark Matter Detection with CMB Polarization
• The fraction of dark matter within galaxies from the IllustrisTNG simulations
• Parkes Pulsar Timing Array constraints on ultralight scalar-field dark matter
• Detection of microgauss coherent magnetic fields in a galaxy five billion years ago
• Constraints on Axion-Like Particles from X-ray Observations of NGC1275
• CLASS B1152+199 and B1359+154: Two New Gravitational Lens Systems Discovered in the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey
• High resolution observations and mass modelling of the CLASS gravitational lens B1152+199
• Constraining the photon coupling of ultra-light dark-matter axion-like particles by polarization variations of parsec-scale jets in active galaxies
• Broadband, radio spectro-polarimetric study of 100 radiative-mode and jet-mode AGN
• Hunting Axion Dark Matter with Protoplanetary Disk Polarimetry
• A CMB Millikan Experiment with Cosmic Axiverse Strings
• Detecting Axion-like Dark Matter with Linearly Polarized Pulsar Light
• Axion-like Dark Matter Constraints from CMB Birefringence
• Mass density slope of elliptical galaxies from strong lensing and resolved stellar kinematics
• Radio Monitoring Campaigns of Six Strongly Lensed Quasars
• Stellar kinematics of X-ray bright massive elliptical galaxies
• Probing a cosmic axion-like particle background within the jets of active galactic nuclei
• Rotation of polarization by a moving gravitational lens

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Testing the ALP-photon coupling with polarization measurements of Sagittarius A*
• BICEP / Keck XIV: Improved constraints on axion-like polarization oscillations in the cosmic microwave background
• Gravitational waves and neutrino oscillations in Chern-Simons axion gravity
• 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
• Terrestrial Probes of Electromagnetically Interacting Dark Radiation
• Exploration of the polarization angle variability of the Crab Nebula with POLARBEAR and its application to the search for axion-like particles
• Hunting Galactic Axion Dark Matter with Gravitationally Lensed Fast Radio Bursts
• Axion Cloud Decay due to the Axion-photon Conversion with Background Magnetic Fields
• Lensed fast radio bursts as a probe of time-varying gravitational potential induced by wave dark matter