Theory HEP Seminar

Axion clouds around pulsars

Sam Witte

Oxford

Axions are amongst the most well-motivated candidates for new fundamental physics. In this talk I will argue that axions with masses below ~100 micro-eV are generically produced deep within pulsar magnetospheres. If the axion mass is not too small, a sizeable fraction of the produced axions will become gravitationally bound to the pulsar itself. Owning to the feeble nature of the axion interactions, these particles cannot easily dissipate their energy, and will accumulate over astrophysical timescales. I will discuss the implications of these ““axion clouds”, and the future prospects for detection.