Constraining Light QCD Axions with Isolated Neutron Star Cooling

Abstract

The existence of light QCD axions, whose mass depends on an additional free parameter, can lead to a new ground state of matter, where the sourced axion field reduces the nucleon effective mass. The presence of the axion field has structural consequences, in particular, it results in a thinner (or even prevents its existence) heat-blanketing envelope, significantly altering the cooling patterns of neutron stars. We exploit the anomalous cooling behavior to constrain previously uncharted regions of the axion parameter space by comparing model predictions with existing data from isolated neutron stars. Notably, this analysis does not require the light QCD axion to be the dark matter candidate.

8 pages, 7 figures

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Magnetic, thermal and rotational evolution of isolated neutron stars
• Axion Astrophysics
• From Supernovae to Neutron Stars: A Systematic Approach to Axion Production at Finite Density
• Leading bounds on micro- to picometer fifth forces from neutron star cooling
• Pi in the Sky: Neutron Stars with Exceptionally Light QCD Axions
• Ponderomotive Effects of Ultralight Dark Matter
• Weak nuclear decays deep-underground as a probe of axion dark matter
• Stacking the Deck: Gambling on a Light QCD Axion
• Detecting dilute axion stars constrained by fast radio bursts in the Solar System via stimulated decay
• (Non-)Perturbative Dynamics of a Light QCD Axion: Dark Matter and the Strong CP Problem
• Discriminating scalar ultralight dark matter from quasi-monochromatic gravitational waves in LISA
• Multimessenger Astronomy Beyond the Standard Model: New Window from Quantum Sensors
• Axion Emission from Proton Cooper Pairs in Neutron Stars