Stringent axion constraints with Event Horizon Telescope polarimetric measurements of M87${}^{\star }$

Abstract

The hitherto unprecedented angular resolution of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has created exciting opportunities in the search for new physics. Recently, the linear polarization of radiation emitted near the supermassive black hole M87${}^{\star }$ was measured on four separate days, precisely enabling tests of the existence of a dense axion cloud produced by a spinning black hole. The presence of an axion cloud leads to a frequency-independent oscillation in the electric vector position angle (EVPA) of this linear polarization. For a nearly face-on M87${}^{\star }$, this oscillation in the EVPA appears as a propagating wave along the photon ring. In this paper, we leverage the azimuthal distribution of EVPA measured by the EHT to study the axion-photon coupling. We propose a novel differential analysis procedure to reduce the astrophysical background, and derive stringent constraints on the existence of axions in the previously unexplored mass window $\sim (10^{-21}-10^{-20})$~eV.

21 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Nature Astronomy

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• Constraint on the black-hole spin of M87 from the accretion-jet model
• Polarization calibration techniques for new-generation VLBI
• Relative depolarization of the black hole photon ring in GRMHD models of Sgr A* and M87*

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• Birefringence Tomography for Axion Cloud
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• Forward Ray Tracing and Hot Spots in Kerr Spacetime
• QED Effects on Kerr-Newman Black Hole Shadows
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• Effects of Superradiance in Active Galactic Nuclei
• On the Interaction between Ultralight Bosons and Quantum-Corrected Black Holes
• Development of axion haloscopes for high-mass search at CAPP
• Accretion, Evaporation and Superradiance Phase Diagram of (Primordial) Black Holes and $10^{-21}-10^{21}$ eV Scalar, Vector, Tensor Fields
• Constraints on Axion-Like Particles from VERITAS Observations of a Flaring Radio Galaxy in the Perseus Cluster
• Constraining axion-gluon coupling in monohadron processes
• Limiting the Yukawa Gravity through the Black Hole Shadows of Sgr A* and M87*
• Constraints on axionlike particles from 16.5 years of Fermi-LAT data and prospects for VLAST
• Local Group Velocity Distribution inside Superradiant Condensates
• Detectability of axion-like dark matter for different time-delay interferometry combinations in space-based gravitational wave detectors
• Effect of accretion on scalar superradiant instability