http://arxiv.org/abs/2208.05501
Pairs of misalignment-produced axions with nearby masses can experience a nonlinear resonance that leads to enhanced direct and astrophysical signatures of axion dark matter. In much of the relevant parameter space, self-interactions cause axion fluctuations to become nonperturbative and to collapse in the early Universe. We investigate the observational consequences of such nonperturbative structure in this “friendly axion” scenario with $3+1$ dimensional simulations. Critically, we find that nonlinear dynamics work to equilibrate the abundance of the two axions, making it easier than previously expected to experimentally confirm the existence of a resonant pair. We also compute the gravitational wave emission from friendly axion dark matter; while the resulting stochastic background is likely undetectable for axion masses above $10^{-22} \, \text{eV}$, the polarization of the cosmic microwave background does constrain possible hyperlight, friendly subcomponents. Finally, we demonstrate that dense, self-interaction–bound oscillons formed during the period of strong nonlinearity are driven by the homogeneous axion background, enhancing their lifetime beyond the in-vacuum expectation.
D. Cyncynates, O. Simon, J. Thompson, et. al.
Mon, 15 Aug 22
42/54
Comments: 19 pages, 8 figures