Constraints on axions from patchy screening of the cosmic microwave background

Document detail

ID

oai:arXiv.org:2409.10514

Topic

Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nonga... High Energy Physics - Phenomenolog...

Author

Goldstein, Samuel McCarthy, Fiona Mondino, Cristina Hill, J. Colin Huang, Junwu Johnson, Matthew C.

Year

2024

listing date

9/18/2024

Keywords

maps \lesssim axions cmb

Metrics

Abstract

The resonant conversion of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons into axions within large-scale structure induces an anisotropic spectral distortion in CMB temperature maps.

Applying state-of-the-art foreground cleaning techniques to $\textit{Planck}$ CMB observations, we construct maps of axion-induced "patchy screening" of the CMB.

We cross-correlate these maps with data from the $\textit{unWISE}$ galaxy survey and find no evidence of axions.

We constrain the axion-photon coupling, $g_{a\gamma\gamma} \lesssim 2 \times 10^{-12}~{\rm GeV}^{-1}$, at the 95% confidence level for axion masses in the range $10^{-13}~{\rm eV} \lesssim m_a \lesssim 10^{-12}~{\rm eV}$.

These constraints are competitive with the tightest astrophysical axion limits in this mass range and are inferred from robust population-level statistics, which makes them complementary to existing searches that rely on modeling of individual systems.

;Comment: 5+15 pages; 3+15 figures

Goldstein, Samuel,McCarthy, Fiona,Mondino, Cristina,Hill, J. Colin,Huang, Junwu,Johnson, Matthew C., 2024, Constraints on axions from patchy screening of the cosmic microwave background