Thermal axions with multi-eV masses are possible in low-reheating scenarios

Abstract

We revise cosmological mass bounds on hadronic axions in low-reheating cosmological scenarios, with a reheating temperature $T_{\mathrm{RH}}\le 100$ MeV, in light of the latest cosmological observations. In this situation, the neutrino decoupling would be unaffected, while the thermal axion relic abundance is suppressed. Moreover, axions are colder in low-reheating temperature scenarios, so that bounds on their abundance are possibly loosened. As a consequence of these two facts, cosmological mass limits on axions are relaxed. Using state-of-the-art cosmological data and characterizing axion-pion interactions at the leading order in chiral perturbation theory, we find in the standard case an axion mass bound $m_a<0.26$ eV. However, axions with masses $m_a\simeq 1$ eV, or heavier, would be allowed for reheating temperatures $T_{\mathrm{RH}}\lesssim 80$ MeV. Multi-eV axions would be outside the mass sensitivity of current and planned solar axion helioscopes and would demand new experimental approaches to be detected.

arXiv commentv2: minor changes to match the version published on JCAP. 27 pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (83)

• The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: cosmological analysis of the DR12 galaxy sample
• The 6dF Galaxy Survey: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and the Local Hubble Constant
• The Clustering of the SDSS DR7 Main Galaxy Sample I: A 4 per cent Distance Measure at z=0.15
• Planck 2018 results. I. Overview and the cosmological legacy of Planck
• Planck 2018 results. V. CMB power spectra and likelihoods
• Massive neutrinos and cosmology
• The QCD axion, precisely
• Planck 2018 results. VIII. Gravitational lensing
• New experimental approaches in the search for axion-like particles
• Largest temperature of the radiation era and its cosmological implications
• The landscape of QCD axion models
• A Search for Invisible Axion Dark Matter with the Axion Dark Matter Experiment
• MeV-scale Reheating Temperature and Thermalization of Neutrino Background
• Astrophysical Axion Bounds
• What is the lowest possible reheating temperature?
• Revisiting the bound on axion-photon coupling from Globular Clusters
• Extended Search for the Invisible Axion with the Axion Dark Matter Experiment
• Production of massive particles during reheating
• Dielectric Haloscopes: A New Way to Detect Axion Dark Matter
• Axion Cosmology
• Global constraints on absolute neutrino masses and their ordering
• MeV-scale reheating temperature and thermalization of oscillating neutrinos by radiative and hadronic decays of massive particles
• Bounds on very low reheating scenarios after Planck
• Towards a precision calculation of $N_{\mathrm{eff}}$ in the Standard Model II: Neutrino decoupling in the presence of flavour oscillations and finite-temperature QED
• Cosmological bounds on pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons
• A precision calculation of relic neutrino decoupling
• Physics potential of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO)
• Improved axion emissivity from a supernova via nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung
• Large Scale Structure Tests of Warm Dark Matter
• On Effective Degrees of Freedom in the Early Universe
• The oscillation effects on thermalization of the neutrinos in the universe with low reheating temperature
• Axion and neutrino bounds improved with new calibrations of the tip of the red-giant branch using geometric distance determinations
• Low reheating temperature and the visible sterile neutrino
• Stellar Recipes for Axion Hunters
• Thermal axion production
• A New Target for Cosmic Axion Searches
• Updated results on neutrino mass and mass hierarchy from cosmology with Planck 2018 likelihoods
• Hadronic axion window and the big-bang nucleosynthesis
• New cosmological mass limit on thermal relic axions
• On Axion Thermalization in the Early Universe
• Neutrino cosmology and Planck
• CAST solar axion search with 3^He buffer gas: Closing the hot dark matter gap
• Thermal axion production in the primordial quark-gluon plasma
• On the reheating stage after inflation
• Relic Neutrinos, thermal axions and cosmology in early 2014
• Cosmological mass limits on neutrinos, axions, and other light particles
• Enhanced Supernova Axion Emission and its Implications
• Neutrino and axion hot dark matter bounds after WMAP-7
• Cosmological Axion and neutrino mass constraints from Planck 2015 temperature and polarization data
• Axion hot dark matter bounds after Planck
• Astrophobic Axions
• Cosmological bounds on sub-MeV mass axions
• A Simple Motivated Completion of the Standard Model below the Planck Scale: Axions and Right-Handed Neutrinos
• Probing the Early Universe with Axion Physics and Gravitational Waves
• An improved cosmological bound on the thermal axion mass
• Axion constraints in non-standard thermal histories
• The RGB tip of galactic globular clusters and the revision of the bound of the axion-electron coupling
• Observable windows for the QCD axion through $N_{\text{eff}}$
• Axion Miniclusters in Modified Cosmological Histories
• MeV sterile neutrinos in low reheating temperature cosmological scenarios
• Axionic Hot Dark Matter in the Hadronic Axion Window
• Cosmological constraints on neutrino plus axion hot dark matter
• New cosmological bounds on hot relics: Axions $\&$ Neutrinos
• Cosmic infrared background excess from axion-like particles and implications for multi-messenger observations of blazars
• Imprints of the Early Universe on Axion Dark Matter Substructure
• Dark Matter Targets for Axion-like Particle Searches
• Breakdown of chiral perturbation theory for the axion hot dark matter bound
• The DFSZ axion in the CMB
• Gravitational Particle Production and the Moduli Problem
• Future cosmological sensitivity for hot dark matter axions
• Axion decay and anisotropy of near-IR extragalactic background light
• Production of axion-like particles from photon conversions in large-scale solar magnetic fields
• Gaseous time projection chambers for rare event detection: Results from the T-REX project. I. Double beta decay
• Background assessment for the TREX Dark Matter experiment
• Prospects for Finding Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter at KATRIN
• Theoretical Estimate of the Sensitivity of the CUORE Detector to Solar Axions
• MeV-scale reheating temperature and cosmological production of light sterile neutrinos
• Can decaying particle explain cosmic infrared background excess?
• Searching for axion-like particle decay in the near-infrared background: an updated analysis
• Exploring 0.1-10eV axions with a new helioscope concept
• Axion-Sterile-Neutrino Dark Matter
• The TREX-DM experiment at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory
• Robustness of cosmological axion mass limits

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Getting the most on supernova axions
• Cosmological Bound on the QCD Axion Mass, Redux
• Axion Dark Matter in the Time of Primordial Black Holes
• Thermal axion production at low temperatures: a smooth treatment of the QCD phase transition
• Novel cosmological bounds on thermally-produced axion-like particles
• New opportunities for axion dark matter searches in nonstandard cosmological models
• Towards a reliable calculation of relic radiation from primordial gravitational waves
• Anisotropic cosmic optical background bound for decaying dark matter in light of the LORRI anomaly
• Two sides of the same coin: sterile neutrinos and dark radiation. Status and perspectives
• Dark Matter Axions in the Early Universe with a Period of Increasing Temperature
• Supernova limits on 'QCD axion-like particles'
• Revisiting signatures of thermal axions in nonstandard cosmologies
• Freezing-in the Pure Dark Axion Portal
• Catalogues of Cosmologically Self-Consistent Hadronic QCD Axion Models
• Exploring the viability of pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson as ultralight dark matter in a mass range relevant for strong gravity applications
• Axion signatures from supernova explosions through the nucleon electric-dipole portal
• Beyond thermal approximations: Precise cosmological bounds on Axion-Like Particles