http://arxiv.org/abs/2008.02473
Axion-like particles (ALPs) rotate linear polarization of photons through the ALP-photon coupling and convert the cosmic microwave background (CMB) $E$-mode to the $B$-mode. We derive the relation between the ALP dynamics and the rotation angle by assuming that the ALP $\phi$ has a quadratic potential, $V=m^2\phi^2/2$. We compute the current and future sensitivity of the CMB measurements to the ALP-photon coupling $g$, which can reach $g=4\times 10^{-21}\,\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$ for $10^{-32}\,\mathrm{eV}\lesssim m\lesssim 10^{-28}\,\mathrm{eV}$ and extensively exceed the other searches for any mass with $m\lesssim 10^{-25}\,\mathrm{eV}$. We also find that the fluctuation of the ALP field at the observer, which has been neglected in previous studies, can induce the significant isotropic rotation of the CMB polarization. The measurements of isotropic and anisotropic rotation allow us to put bounds on relevant quantities such as the ALP mass $m$ and the ALP density parameter $\Omega_\phi$. In particular, if LiteBIRD detects anisotropic rotation, we obtain the lower limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio as $r > 5 \times 10^{-9}$.
T. Fujita, Y. Minami, K. Murai, et. al.
Fri, 7 Aug 20
-740/46
Comments: 7 pages, 2 figures