P. Weltevrede

Sep 1, 2023 | link.aps.org | S. Srinivasan |J. McDonald |P. Weltevrede

Abstract Axion dark matter can be converted into photons in the magnetospheres of neutron stars leading to a spectral line centered on the Compton wavelength of the axion. Due to the rotation of the star and the plasma effects in the magnetosphere the signal is predicted to be periodic with significant time variation that persists across phase but is narrow in frequency—a unique smoking gun for axion dark matter.