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Misalignment from kicks: The impact of particle interactions on ultralight dark matter

Clare Burrage1,* and Sergio Sevillano Muñoz2,3,†

  • *Contact author: clare.burrage@nottingham.ac.uk
  • †Contact author: sergiosm@sas.upenn.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 043541 – Published 24 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z5bv-wgqd

Abstract

Oscillating ultralight scalar fields are a natural explanation for the dark matter in our Universe, as long as a mechanism, often called a misalignment mechanism, exists to explain the amplitude of the scalar oscillations. If the dark matter scalar couples to the Standard Model, then the dynamics of ordinary matter can influence the behavior of dark matter in the early Universe. In this work, we show how this changes the expected value of the scalar field and the resulting amplitude of late-time scalar oscillations and therefore the abundance of dark matter at late times. For dark matter scalars that interact quadratically with Standard Model fields, we derive estimates of the size of this effect as a function of the strength of the coupling, and for axionlike fields we show that interactions with dark sector matter can temporarily destabilize the field, leading to large field displacements.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 043541– Published 24 August, 2026
  • Received 14 April 2026
  • Accepted 21 July 2026
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