Propagation of axions in a strongly magnetized medium

Abstract

The polarization operator of an axion in a degenerate gas of electrons occupying the ground-state Landau level in a superstrong magnetic field $H\gg H_0=m_e^2{c}^3/e\hslash =4.41\cdot 10^{13}$ G is investigated in a model with a tree-level axion-electron coupling. It is shown that a dynamic axion mass, which can fall within the allowed range of values $(10^{-5}eV\lesssim m_a\lesssim 10^{-2}eV)$, is generated under the conditions of strongly magnetized neutron stars. As a result, the dispersion relation for axions is appreciably different from that in a vacuum.

RevTex, no figures, 13 pages, Revised version of the paper published in J. Exp. Theor. Phys. {\bf 88}, 1 (1999)