Pulsar timing signal from ultralight scalar dark matter

Khmelnitsky, Andrei; Rubakov, V. A.

doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2014/02/019

Cited by 217 publications

(333 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This appears to exclude the possibility to search for ULAs via pulsar timing experiments as proposed by Khmelnitsky & Rubakov (2014). We have found that ma = 10 −23 eV cannot produce enough galaxies of the required magnitude at high-z to be consistent with HUDF.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Galaxy UV-luminosity function and reionization constraints on axion dark matter

Bozek¹,

Marsh²,

Silk³

et al. 2015

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

170

208

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If the dark matter (DM) were composed of axions, then structure formation in the Universe would be suppressed below the axion Jeans scale. Using an analytic model for the halo mass function of a mixed DM model with axions and cold dark matter, combined with the abundance-matching technique, we construct the UV-luminosity function. Axions suppress high-z galaxy formation and the UV-luminosity function is truncated at a faintest limiting magnitude. From the UV-luminosity function, we predict the reionization history of the universe and find that axion DM causes reionization to occur at lower redshift. We search for evidence of axions using the Hubble Ultra Deep Field UV-luminosity function in the redshift range z = 6-10, and the optical depth to reionization, τ , as measured from cosmic microwave background polarization. All probes we consider consistently exclude m a 10 −23 eV from contributing more than half of the DM, with our strongest constraint ruling this model out at more than 8σ significance. In conservative models of reionization a dominant component of DM with m a = 10 −22 eV is in 3σ tension with the measured value of τ , putting pressure on an axion solution to the cusp-core problem. Tension is reduced to 2σ for the axion contributing only half of the DM. A future measurement of the UV-luminosity function in the range z = 10-13 by JWST would provide further evidence for or against m a = 10 −22 eV. Probing still higher masses of m a = 10 −21 eV will be possible using future measurements of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect by Advanced ACTPol to constrain the time and duration of reionization.

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Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Galaxy UV-luminosity function and reionization constraints on axion dark matter

Bozek¹,

Marsh²,

Silk³

et al. 2015

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

170

208

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…We focused in particular on gravitational effects, without making assumptions about the coupling of the scalar to other matter fields (except that the couplings are small enough so that the scalar DM survives until today). Other possible gravitational consequences of light scalars we did not discuss include superradiance of black holes [6,65], and effects on pulsar timing observations [66] or binary pulsars [67]. We also remark that concrete models of scalar DM can contain couplings with other fields, such as axion-type couplings to photons.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Lyman- α constraints on ultralight scalar dark matter: Implications for the early and late universe

et al. 2017

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We investigate constraints on scalar dark matter (DM) by analyzing the Lyman-α forest, which probes structure formation at medium and small scales, and also by studying its cosmological consequences at high and low redshift. For scalar DM that constitutes more than 30% of the total DM density, we obtain a lower limit m 10 −21 eV for the mass of scalar DM. This implies an upper limit on the initial field displacement (or the decay constant for an axion-like field) of φ 10 16 GeV. We also derive limits on the energy scale of cosmic inflation and establish an upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of r < 10 −3 in the presence of scalar DM. Furthermore, we show that there is very little room for ultralight scalar DM to solve the "small-scale crisis" of cold DM without spoiling the Lyman-α forest results. The constraints presented in this paper can be used for testing generic theories that contain light scalar fields.

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“…We highlight the relatively high signal strength we calculate for pulsars within the Galactic soliton region as a function of Axion mass in a series of curves, demonstrating that this signal is already detectable for central Galactic pulsars. For comparison, the diagonal dotted line is the prediction obtained by [7] for local pulsars, assuming a smooth density distribution, with the blue shaded region representing the wider range we predict that includes our de-Broglie scale DM density modulation. The local upper limit obtained by [35] is also shown (black square with arrow).…”

Section: Pairwise Timing Amplitudesmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…These oscillations are usually neglected as the average pressure over the period is zero. However, at the Compton scale of interest here, the oscillating scalar field generates an oscillating gravitational potential in proportion to the local mass density [7]. All clocks are modulated by such an oscillating field, including Earth clocks and Pulsars.…”

Section: Compton Scale Pressure Oscillation and Pulsar Timingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognizing Axionic Dark Matter by Compton and de Broglie Scale Modulation of Pulsar Timing

et al. 2017

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Light Axionic Dark Matter, motivated by string theory, is increasingly favored for the "no-WIMP era". Galaxy formation is suppressed below a Jeans scale, of ≃ 10 8 M⊙ by setting the axion mass to, mB ∼ 10 −22 eV, and the large dark cores of dwarf galaxies are explained as solitons on the de-Broglie scale. This is persuasive, but detection of the inherent scalar field oscillation at the Compton frequency, ωB = (2.5 months) −1 (mB/10 −22 eV ), would be definitive. By evolving the coupled Schrödinger-Poisson equation for a Bose-Einstein condensate, we predict the dark matter is fully modulated by de-Broglie interference, with a dense soliton core of size ≃ 150pc, at the Galactic center. The oscillating field pressure induces General Relativistic time dilation in proportion to the local dark matter density and pulsars within this dense core have detectably large timing residuals, of ≃ 400nsec/(mB /10 −22 eV ). This is encouraging as many new pulsars should be discovered near the Galactic center with planned radio surveys. More generally, over the whole Galaxy, differences in dark matter density between pairs of pulsars imprints a pairwise Galactocentric signature that can be distinguished from an isotropic gravitational wave background.PACS numbers: 03.75. Lm, 95.35.+d, 98.56.Wm, 98.62.Gq

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Pulsar timing signal from ultralight scalar dark matter

Cited by 217 publications

References 24 publications

Galaxy UV-luminosity function and reionization constraints on axion dark matter

Galaxy UV-luminosity function and reionization constraints on axion dark matter

Lyman- α constraints on ultralight scalar dark matter: Implications for the early and late universe

Recognizing Axionic Dark Matter by Compton and de Broglie Scale Modulation of Pulsar Timing

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