Recipes for Oscillon Longevity

Abstract

Oscillons are localized states of scalar fields sustained by self interactions. They decay by emitting classical radiation, but their lifetimes are surprisingly large. We revisit the reasons behind their longevity, aiming at how the shape of the scalar potential $V(\varphi )$ determines the lifetime. The corpuscular picture, where the oscillon is identified with a bound state of a large number of field quanta, allows to understand lifetimes of order of $10^3$ cycles in generic potentials. At the non-perturbative level, two properties of the scalar potential can substantially boost the lifetime: the flattening of $V(\varphi )$ and the positivity of $V^{\prime \prime }(\varphi )$. These properties are realized in the axion monodromy family of potentials. Moreover, this class of models connects continuously with an exceptional potential that admits eternal oscillon solutions. We check these results with a new fast-forward numerical method that allows to evolve in time to stages that cannot be otherwise simulated on a computer. The method exploits the attractor properties of the oscillons and fully accounts for nonlinearities. We find lifetimes up to $10^{14}$ cycles, but larger values are possible. Our work shows that oscillons formed in the early Universe can be stable on cosmological time scales and thus contribute to the abundance of (ultra)light scalar dark matter.

29 pages, 10 figures. v2: references added, typos corrected, further clarifications added

References in corpus (12)

• Monodromy in the CMB: Gravity Waves and String Inflation
• Lyman-alpha Constraints on Ultralight Scalar Dark Matter: Implications for the Early and Late Universe
• Quantum Radiation of Oscillons
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• Oscillons and Quasi-breathers in the ϕ^4 Klein-Gordon model
• Small amplitude quasi-breathers and oscillons
• Classical Decay Rates of Oscillons
• Analytical Characterization of Oscillon Energy and Lifetime
• Decay of I-ball/Oscillon in Classical Field Theory
• Oscillon of Ultra-Light Axion-like Particle
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Cited by in corpus (16)

• The Structure of the Oscillon: The Dynamics of Attractive Self-Interaction
• Friendship in the Axiverse: Late-time direct and astrophysical signatures of early-time nonlinear axion dynamics
• ALP dark matter with non-periodic potentials: parametric resonance, halo formation and gravitational signatures
• Numerical renormalization group-based approach to secular perturbation theory
• Nonperturbative structure in coupled axion sectors and implications for direct detection
• An Effective Field Theory for Large Oscillons
• Oscillon spectroscopy
• Enhanced Early Galaxy Formation in JWST from Axion Dark Matter?
• Non-topological solitons and quasi-solitons
• Symmetric multifield oscillons
• Excited oscillons: cascading levels and higher multipoles
• Analytic description of monodromy oscillons
• Dimensional deformation of sine-Gordon breathers into oscillons
• Higher order corrections to beyond-all-order effects in a fifth order Korteweg-de Vries equation
• Quest for eternal oscillons
• Decay and lifetime of oscillons coupled to an external scalar field: Insights from instability band analysis