ALP dark matter with non-periodic potentials: parametric resonance, halo formation and gravitational signatures

Abstract

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are leading candidates to explain the dark matter in the universe. Their production via the misalignment mechanism has been extensively studied for cosine potentials characteristic of pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons. In this work we investigate ALPs with non-periodic potentials, which allow for large misalignment of the field from the minimum. As a result, the ALP can match the relic density of dark matter in a large part of the parameter space. Such potentials give rise to self-interactions which can trigger an exponential growth of fluctuations in the ALP field via parametric resonance, leading to the fragmentation of the field. We study these effects with both Floquet analysis and lattice simulations. Using the Press-Schechter formalism, we predict the halo mass function and halo spectrum arising from ALP dark matter. These halos can be dense enough to produce observable gravitational effects such as astrometric lensing, diffraction of gravitational wave signals from black hole mergers, photometric microlensing of highly magnified stars, perturbations of stars in the galactic disk or stellar streams. These effects would provide a probe of dark matter even if it does not couple to the Standard Model. They would not be observable for halos predicted for standard cold dark matter and for ALP dark matter in the standard misalignment mechanism. We determine the relevant regions of parameter space in the (ALP mass, decay constant)-plane and compare predictions in different axion fragmentation models.

arXiv comment50 pages and 22 figures in the main text, and 15 pages and 2 figures in appendices, v2: As published in JCAP

References in corpus (122)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Array Programming with NumPy
• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• A Universal Density Profile from Hierarchical Clustering
• Gaia Data Release 2. Summary of the contents and survey properties
• The Structure of Cold Dark Matter Halos
• Advanced LIGO
• Large scale bias and the peak background split
• Axion Cosmology
• String Axiverse
• Ultralight scalars as cosmological dark matter
• Axions In String Theory
• Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• The String Landscape, Black Holes and Gravity as the Weakest Force
• Solutions Of Four-Dimensional Field Theories Via M Theory
• The MACHO Project: Microlensing Results from 5.7 Years of LMC Observations
• Cosmic Structure as the Quantum Interference of a Coherent Dark Wave
• Limits on the Macho Content of the Galactic Halo from the EROS-2 Survey of the Magellanic Clouds
• Monodromy in the CMB: Gravity Waves and String Inflation
• Gravity Waves and Linear Inflation from Axion Monodromy
• The NANOGrav 12.5-year Data Set: Search For An Isotropic Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background
• The landscape of QCD axion models
• Understanding the Core-Halo Relation of Quantum Wave Dark Matter, $\psi$DM, from 3D Simulations
• Microlensing constraints on primordial black holes with the Subaru/HSC Andromeda observation
• The type IIB string axiverse and its low-energy phenomenology
• Nonperturbative Dynamics Of Reheating After Inflation: A Review
• Detection of massive tidal tails around the globular cluster Pal 5 with SDSS commissioning data
• First constraints on fuzzy dark matter from Lyman-$\alpha$ forest data and hydrodynamical simulations
• Axion Miniclusters and Bose Stars
• The QCD Axion and Moduli Stabilisation
• Tachyonic Instability and Dynamics of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
• Detection of a 63 Degree Cold Stellar Stream in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Oscillons: Resonant Configurations During Bubble Collapse
• Theta Dependence In The Large N Limit Of Four-Dimensional Gauge Theories
• Strong bound on canonical ultra-light axion dark matter from the Lyman-alpha forest
• Cosmology with Phase 1 of the Square Kilometre Array; Red Book 2018: Technical specifications and performance forecasts
• Constraining the mass of light bosonic dark matter using SDSS Lyman-$\alpha$ forest
• A Prescription for Building the Milky Way's Halo from Disrupted Satellites
• Pseudo-Stable Bubbles
• Non-Linear Axion Dynamics and Formation of Cosmological Pseudo-Solitons
• Uncovering CDM halo substructure with tidal streams
• The Excursion Set Theory of Halo Mass Functions, Halo Clustering, and Halo Growth
• More Axions from Strings
• Lyman-alpha Constraints on Ultralight Scalar Dark Matter: Implications for the Early and Late Universe
• Limits on stellar-mass compact objects as dark matter from gravitational lensing of type Ia supernovae
• Early-Universe Simulations of the Cosmological Axion
• Black hole superradiance of self-interacting scalar fields
• Axion Kinetic Misalignment Mechanism
• LATTICEEASY: A Program for Lattice Simulations of Scalar Fields in an Expanding Universe
• How Lumpy is the Milky Way's Dark Matter Halo?
• The Large-Misalignment Mechanism for the Formation of Compact Axion Structures: Signatures from the QCD Axion to Fuzzy Dark Matter
• The Spur and the Gap in GD-1: Dynamical evidence for a dark substructure in the Milky Way halo
• Early seeds of axion miniclusters
• The Stochastic Axion Scenario
• Experimental Limits on Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter from the First Two Years of Kepler Data
• Large-amplitude isothermal fluctuations and high-density dark-matter clumps
• Simple exercises to flatten your potential
• Small-scale structure of fuzzy and axion-like dark matter
• A New Probe of Dark Matter and High-Energy Universe Using Microlensing
• Dark Matter Sub-Halo Counts via Star Stream Crossings
• Lyman-$\alpha$ forest and non-linear structure characterization in Fuzzy Dark Matter cosmologies
• Structure Formation and Microlensing with Axion Miniclusters
• The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Project: Second data release
• I-balls
• Astrometric Observation of MACHO Gravitational Microlensing
• Detecting Lensing-Induced Diffraction in Astrophysical Gravitational Waves
• Pulsar Timing Probes of Primordial Black Holes and Subhalos
• Astrophysical Effects of Scalar Dark Matter Miniclusters
• The scaling density of axion strings
• Gravitational Lensing Signatures of Axion Dark Matter Minihalos in Highly Magnified Stars
• First Simulations of Axion Minicluster Halos
• Astrometric Microlensing with the GAIA satellite
• Searching for the QCD Axion with Gravitational Microlensing
• A new probe of the small-scale primordial power spectrum: astrometric microlensing by ultracompact minihalos
• Halometry from Astrometry
• Are ultracompact minihalos really ultracompact?
• Simulations of Axion Minihalos
• Gravitational wave forest from string axiverse
• Axion monodromy in a model of holographic gluodynamics
• Axion minicluster power spectrum and mass function
• Axion Fragmentation
• Approach to scaling in axion string networks
• New Perspectives on Axion Misalignment Mechanism
• Detecting Dark Matter Substructures around the Milky Way with Gaia
• Testing extreme-axion wave dark matter using the BOSS Lyman-Alpha forest data
• Observability of Dark Matter Substructure with Pulsar Timing Correlations
• QCD Axion on Hilltop by a Phase Shift of $\pi$
• 3D simulations with boosted primordial power spectra and ultracompact minihalos
• Miniclusters in the Axiverse
• Probing Small-Scale Power Spectra with Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Axion Misalignment Driven to the Hilltop
• Theia: Faint objects in motion or the new astrometry frontier
• Simulations of axion-like particles in the post-inflationary scenario
• Oscillons and Dark Matter
• Detecting the disruption of dark-matter halos with stellar streams
• Sine-Gordon Parametric Resonance
• Pure Natural Inflation
• Cosmological Perturbations of Extreme Axion in the Radiation Era
• Monodromy Dark Matter
• Dark Matter Microhalos From Simplified Models
• Astrometric Microlensing by Local Dark Matter Subhalos
• Stellar Wakes from Dark Matter Subhalos
• Axion Miniclusters Made Easy
• Foamy Dark Matter from Monodromies
• Friendship in the Axiverse: Late-time direct and astrophysical signatures of early-time nonlinear axion dynamics
• Faint objects in motion: the new frontier of high precision astrometry
• Gravitational waves from the fragmentation of axion-like particle dark matter
• Audible Axions with a Booster: Stochastic Gravitational Waves from Rotating ALPs
• Recipes for Oscillon Longevity
• Evolution of linear wave dark matter perturbations in the radiation-dominant era
• Bayesian Forecasts for Dark Matter Substructure Searches with Mock Pulsar Timing Data
• ALP Dark Matter Mini-Clusters from Kinetic Fragmentation
• Ultralight DM bosons with an Axion-like potential: scale-dependent constraints revisited
• QCD Axion Kinetic Misalignment without Prejudice
• Nonperturbative structure in coupled axion sectors and implications for direct detection
• Oscillons of Axion-Like Particle: Mass distribution and power spectrum
• Tensor Modes in Pure Natural Inflation
• New scenario of QCD axion clump formation I: Linear analysis
• Resonant excitation of the axion field during the QCD phase transition
• One-parametric description for scalar field dark matter potentials
• Disruption of Dark Matter Minihaloes in the Milky Way environment: Implications for Axion Miniclusters and Early Matter Domination
• A lower bound on dark matter mass

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Detecting Dark Matter Substructures on Small Scales with Fast Radio Bursts
• Stacking the Deck: Gambling on a Light QCD Axion
• Dark photon dark matter from flattened axion potentials
• Direct Collapse Black Hole Candidates from Decaying Dark Matter
• Gravitational signatures of ALP dark matter fragmentation
• Search for Higgs boson decays into a $Z$ boson and a light hadronically decaying resonance in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector