Dark photon dark matter from flattened axion potentials

Abstract

Dark photons can be resonantly produced in the early universe via their coupling to an oscillating axion field. However, this mechanism typically requires large axion--dark photon couplings or some degree of fine-tuning. In this work, we present a new scenario in which efficient dark photon production arises from axion potentials that are shallower than quadratic at large field values. For moderately large initial misalignment angles, the oscillation of the axion field can trigger either efficient dark photon production or strong axion self-resonance via parametric resonance. When self-resonance dominates and disrupts the field's homogeneity, we show that oscillons -- localized, oscillating axion field configurations -- naturally form and can sustain continued dark photon production, provided the coupling is $\gtrsim \mathcal{O}(1)$. For dark photon mass up to three orders of magnitude below the axion mass, the produced dark photons can account for a significant fraction of the present-day dark matter. We support this scenario with numerical lattice simulations of a benchmark model. Our results further motivate experimental searches for ultralight dark photon dark matter. The simulation code is publicly available at https://github.com/hongyi18/AxionDarkPhotonSimulator.

13 pages, 8 figures; accepted version

References in corpus (65)

• Particle Dark Matter: Evidence, Candidates and Constraints
• Axion Cosmology
• String Axiverse
• Axions In String Theory
• Dark Matter Candidates from Particle Physics and Methods of Detection
• The Low-Energy Frontier of Particle Physics
• WISPy Cold Dark Matter
• Exploring the String Axiverse with Precision Black Hole Physics
• The landscape of QCD axion models
• Nonperturbative Dynamics Of Reheating After Inflation: A Review
• Vector Dark Matter from Inflationary Fluctuations
• The unexpected diversity of dwarf galaxy rotation curves
• Dark Light, Dark Matter and the Misalignment Mechanism
• Dark matter production in the early Universe: beyond the thermal WIMP paradigm
• Oscillons: Resonant Configurations During Bubble Collapse
• Oscillons After Inflation
• Dark photon limits: a handbook
• Relic Abundance of Dark Photon Dark Matter
• Realizing the relaxion from multiple axions and its UV completion with high scale supersymmetry
• Self-resonance after inflation: oscillons, transients and radiation domination
• The Powers of Monodromy
• Dilute and dense axion stars
• Dark Photon Dark Matter Produced by Axion Oscillations
• The Large-Misalignment Mechanism for the Formation of Compact Axion Structures: Signatures from the QCD Axion to Fuzzy Dark Matter
• Massive hidden photons as lukewarm dark matter
• Parametric Resonance Production of Ultralight Vector Dark Matter
• The Equation of State and Duration to Radiation Domination After Inflation
• Simple exercises to flatten your potential
• Constraints from Ly-$\alpha$ forests on non-thermal dark matter including resonantly-produced sterile neutrinos
• Dark Photon Dark Matter from a Network of Cosmic Strings
• Flat-top oscillons in an expanding universe
• Boson Stars and Oscillatons: A Review
• Completely Dark Photons from Gravitational Particle Production During Inflation
• Dark Matter Axion Clump Resonance of Photons
• Radiation and Relaxation of Oscillons
• Einstein rings modulated by wavelike dark matter from anomalies in gravitationally lensed images
• Dark Photon Stars: Formation and Role as Dark Matter Substructure
• End of inflation, oscillons and matter-antimatter asymmetry
• Classical Decay Rates of Oscillons
• Vector Coherent Oscillation Dark Matter
• Gravitational wave forest from string axiverse
• Axion monodromy in a model of holographic gluodynamics
• Gravitational Waves and Dark Photon Dark Matter from Axion Rotations
• Quality of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry in the Aligned QCD Axion and Cosmological Implications
• Interplay of super-WIMP and freeze-in production of dark matter
• Pure Natural Inflation
• Dark photon vortex formation and dynamics
• Polarized Vector Oscillons
• A singularity problem for interacting massive vectors
• A Monodromy from London
• Electromagnetic Bursts from Mergers of Oscillons in Axion-like Fields
• Gravitational effects on oscillon lifetimes
• Dark photon dark matter from an oscillating dilaton
• ALP dark matter with non-periodic potentials: parametric resonance, halo formation and gravitational signatures
• Photons from dark photon solitons via parametric resonance
• Detectable and defect-free dark photon dark matter
• Resonant production of dark photons from axion without a large coupling
• New scenario of QCD axion clump formation I: Linear analysis
• Resonant excitation of the axion field during the QCD phase transition
• Unified view of scalar and vector dark matter solitons
• Phenomenology of wavelike vector dark matter nonminimally coupled to gravity
• First Search for Ultralight Dark Matter Using a Magnetically Levitated Particle
• Dark Spin-2 Field Solitons as a Source of Electromagnetic Radiation
• Do neutrinos bend? Consequences of an ultralight gauge field as dark matter
• Head-on collisions of fuzzy/cold dark matter subhalos