Photon-ALP oscillations inducing modifications to photon polarization

Abstract

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are very light, neutral, spin zero bosons predicted by many theories which try to complete the standard model of elementary particles. ALPs interact primarily with two photons and can generate photon-ALP oscillations in the presence of an external magnetic field. They are attracting increasing interest since photon-ALP oscillations produce deep consequences in very-high-energy (VHE) astrophysics. Two hints for the existence of an ALP have recently been proposed. In this paper, we study another effect of the photon-ALP interaction: the change of the polarization state of photons. In particular, we study the propagation of the photon-ALP beam starting where photons are produced - we consider photons generated in a galaxy cluster or in the jet of a blazar - crossing several magnetized media (blazar jet, host galaxy, galaxy cluster, extragalactic space, Milky Way) up to their arrival at the Earth. In the presence of photon-ALP interaction, we analyze the final photon survival probability $P_{\gamma \to \gamma }$ and the corresponding photon degree of linear polarization ${\Pi }_L$ for energies in the range $(1-10^{15})\mathrm{eV}$. We observe that photons, which are expected as unpolarized in the absence of ALPs, are made partially polarized by photon-ALP interaction. Our findings can be tested by observatories like IXPE (already operative), and by the proposed missions eXTP, XL-Calibur, NGXP and XPP in the X-ray band and by COSI (approved to launch), e-ASTROGAM and AMEGO in the high-energy range. We also discover a peculiar feature in the VHE band, where photons at energies above $\sim (1-10)\mathrm{TeV}$ are fully polarized because of photon-ALP interaction. A possible detection of this feature would represent a proof for the existence of an ALP, but, unfortunately, current technologies do not allow yet to detect photon polarization up to so high energies.

arXiv comment26 pages, 20 figures, This version matches the published paper: Phys. Rev. D 107, 043006 (2023)

References in corpus (95)

• The Swift X-ray Telescope
• Axion Cosmology
• String Axiverse
• Axions In String Theory
• A New Electron Density Model for Estimation of Pulsar and FRB Distances
• Magnetic Fields in the Early Universe
• The Low-Energy Frontier of Particle Physics
• New CAST Limit on the Axion-Photon Interaction
• Evidence for strong extragalactic magnetic fields from Fermi observations of TeV blazars
• WISPy Cold Dark Matter
• Formation of Galaxy Clusters
• Cosmological Magnetic Fields: Their Generation, Evolution and Observation
• Clusters of galaxies : observational properties of the diffuse radio emission
• A New Model of the Galactic Magnetic Field
• BL Lac Objects in the Synchrotron Proton Blazar Model
• Electrodynamics with Lorentz-violating operators of arbitrary dimension
• The type IIB string axiverse and its low-energy phenomenology
• Canonical high power blazars
• Magnetic Field in Clusters of Galaxies
• Constraints on the Physical Parameters of TeV Blazars
• Revisiting the bound on axion-photon coupling from Globular Clusters
• What is a Cool-Core Cluster? A Detailed Analysis of the Cores of the X-ray Flux-Limited HIFLUGCS Cluster Sample
• Revisiting the SN1987A gamma-ray limit on ultralight axion-like particles
• The Coma cluster magnetic field from Faraday rotation measures
• Any Light Particle Search II -- Technical Design Report
• Broadband and Resonant Approaches to Axion Dark Matter Detection
• The QCD Axion and Moduli Stabilisation
• The Galactic Magnetic Field
• The enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission - eXTP
• Deriving global structure of the Galactic Magnetic Field from Faraday Rotation Measures of extragalactic sources
• Evidence for a new light spin-zero boson from cosmological gamma-ray propagation?
• Search for Spectral Irregularities due to Photon-Axionlike-Particle Oscillations With the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Physics potential of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO)
• Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization
• The e-ASTROGAM mission (exploring the extreme Universe with gamma rays in the MeV-GeV range)
• TeV BL Lac objects at the dawn of the Fermi era
• Intergalactic Magnetic Fields from Quasar Outflows
• The extragalactic background light revisited and the cosmic photon-photon opacity
• An M Theory Solution to the Strong CP Problem and Constraints on the Axiverse
• Towards a new generation axion helioscope
• New limits on extragalactic magnetic fields from rotation measures
• Astrophysical limits on very light axion-like particles from Chandra grating spectroscopy of NGC 1275
• X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Polarization in Leptonic and Hadronic Jet Models of Blazars
• A 3.55 keV hint for decaying axion-like particle dark matter
• Magnetic Fields in Astrophysical Jets: From Launch to Termination
• New constraints on light Axion-Like Particles using Chandra Transmission Grating Spectroscopy of the powerful cluster-hosted quasar H1821+643
• Synchrotron Polarization in Blazars
• Transparency of the Universe to gamma rays
• Evidence for an axion-like particle from PKS 1222+216?
• The Polarization Properties of Inverse Compton Emission and Implications for Blazar Observations with the GEMS X-Ray Polarimeter
• Magnetic power spectra from Faraday rotation maps - REALMAF and its use on Hydra A
• Constraints on Axion-Like Particles from X-ray Observations of NGC1275
• Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array for probing cosmology and fundamental physics with gamma-ray propagation
• Search for Axionlike-Particle-Induced Prompt Gamma-Ray Emission from Extragalactic Core-Collapse Supernovae with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• New constraints on modelling the random magnetic field of the MW
• On detecting oscillations of gamma rays into axion-like particles in turbulent and coherent magnetic fields
• XL-Calibur -- a second-generation balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimetry mission
• Electromagnetic Polarization Effects due to Axion Photon Mixing
• The TeV Energy Spectrum of Mkn 501 Measured with the Stereoscopic Telescope System of HEGRA during 1998 and 1999
• Constraints on Axion-Like Particles from Non-Observation of Spectral Modulations for X-ray Point Sources
• Axion-like particle effects on the polarization of cosmic high-energy gamma sources
• Blazar VHE spectral alterations induced by photon-ALP oscillations
• Photons to axion-like particles conversion in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Gamma Rays and Neutrinos from a Powerful Cosmic Accelerator
• Behavior of axion-like particles in smoothed out domain-like magnetic fields
• Extragalactic photon--axion-like particle oscillations up to 1000 TeV
• Photon-Axion Conversion, Magnetic Field Configuration, and Polarization of Photons
• String compactification, QCD axion and axion-photon-photon coupling
• beta-model and cooling flows in X-ray clusters of galaxies
• Axion-like Particles Implications for High-Energy Astrophysics
• Hint at an axion-like particle from the redshift dependence of blazar spectra
• Perspective of monochromatic gamma-ray line detection with the High Energy cosmic-Radiation Detection (HERD) facility onboard China's Space Station
• On the non-thermal high energy radiation of galaxy clusters
• Signatures of photon-axion conversion in the thermal spectra and polarization of neutron stars
• Can axion-like particles explain the alignments of the polarisations of light from quasars?
• Alignments in quasar polarizations: pseudoscalar-photon mixing in the presence of correlated magnetic fields
• Galaxy Cluster Thermal X-Ray Spectra Constrain Axion-Like Particles
• Dark matter searches by the planned gamma-ray telescope GAMMA-400
• Warming rays in cluster cool cores
• Can large scintillators be used for solar-axion searches to test the cosmological axion-photon oscillation proposal?
• Seeing the Invisible Axion in the Sparticle Spectrum
• Searching for Axion-Like Particles with X-ray Polarimeters
• Fundamental physics with blazar spectra: a critical appraisal
• Axion-photon Propagation in Magnetized Universe
• A method to determine the polarization of high energy gamma-rays
• The potential of large germanium detector arrays for solar-axion searches utilizing the axio-electric effect for detection
• Updated Bounds on Axion-Like Particles from X-ray Observations
• The experimental challenge of detecting solar axion-like particles to test cosmological ALP-photon oscillation hypothesis
• Photon-ALP interaction as a measure of initial photon polarization
• A complete 3D numerical study of the effects of pseudoscalar-photon mixing on quasar polarizations
• Estimating $\gamma \gamma$ absorption for UHE photons with lepton and hadron production
• A possible blazar spectral irregularity case caused by photon--axionlike-particle oscillations
• Probing the absorption of gamma-rays by IR radiation from the dusty torus in FSRQs with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Estimate of the Fermi Large Area Telescope sensitivity to gamma-ray polarization
• How do Magnetic Field Models Affect Astrophysical Limits on Light Axion-like Particles? An X-ray Case Study with NGC 1275

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Observability of the very-high-energy emission from GRB 221009A
• Axion-like Particles Implications for High-Energy Astrophysics
• ALP induced polarization effects on photons from galaxy clusters
• Axion-like Particle Effects on Photon Polarization in High-Energy Astrophysics
• Physics Beyond the Standard Model with Future X-ray Observatories: Projected Constraints on Very-Light Axion-Like Particles with $Athena$ and $AXIS$
• Distinct photon-ALP propagation modes
• Berry phase in axion physics, SM global structure, and generalized symmetries
• X-ray polarimetric features of Gamma-ray Bursts across varied redshifts and hints for Axion-Like-Particles