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Rotating drops of axion dark matter

Sacha Davidson1,* and Thomas Schwetz2,†

  • 1Université Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, IPN-Lyon, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France
  • 2Institut für Kernphysik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany

  • *s.davidson@ipnl.in2p3.fr
  • †schwetz@kit.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 93, 123509 – Published 6 June, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.93.123509

Abstract

We consider how QCD axions produced by the misalignment mechanism could form galactic dark matter halos. We recall that stationary, gravitationally stable axion field configurations have the size of an asteroid with masses of order 10−13M⊙ (because gradient pressure is insufficient to support a larger object). We call such field configurations “drops.” We explore whether rotating drops could be larger, and find that their mass could increase by a factor ∼10. This mass is comparable to the mass of miniclusters generated from misalignment axions in the scenario where the axion is born after inflation. We speculate that misalignment axions today are in the form of drops, contributing to dark matter like a distribution of asteroids (and not as a coherent oscillating background field). We consider some observational signatures of the drops, which seem consistent with a galactic halo made of axion dark matter.

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Phys. Rev. D 93, 123509– Published 6 June, 2016
  • Received 23 March 2016

© 2016 American Physical Society

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