Theory HEP Seminar

Condensation and Evaporation of Boson Stars

Sergey Sibiryakov

McMaster University

Axion-like particles, including the QCD axion, are well-motivated dark matter candidates. Numerical simulations have revealed coherent soliton configurations, also known as boson stars, in the centers of axion halos. The physical laws governing the interaction of boson stars with the halos are still largely unknown. I’ll report the results on evolution of axion solitons immersed into a gas of axion waves with Maxwellian velocity distribution obtained by combining analytical approach with controlled numerical simulations. It has been found that heavy solitons grow by condensation of axions from the gas, while light solitons evaporate. I’ll discuss the dependence of the soliton growth/evaporation rate on the soliton and gas parameters.