2006/09/30 by Dong Lai, Jeremy Heyl · 60 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Axion #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Neutron star #Optics #Particle physics #Photon #Physics #Pseudoscalar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quark #astro-ph #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.74.123003
published in Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields 74(12) (American Physical Society) · 12 pages, 11 figures. Minor changes. PRD accepted
arxiv created 2006/11/15 · openalex publication_date 2006/12/07 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Recent experiments suggest that polarized photons may couple significantly to pseudoscalar particles such as axions. We study the possible observational signatures of axion-photon coupling for radiation from magnetic stars, with particular focus on neutron stars. We present general methods for calculating the axion-photon conversion probability during propagation through a varying magnetized vacuum as well as across an inhomogeneous atmosphere. Partial axion-photon conversion may take place in the vacuum region outside the neutron star. Strong axion-photon mixing occurs due to a resonance in the atmosphere and, depending on the axion coupling strength and other parameters, significant axion-photon conversion can take place at the resonance. Such conversions may produce observable effects on the radiation spectra and polarization signals from the star. We also apply our results to axion-photon propagation in the Sun and in magnetic white dwarfs. We find that there is no appreciable conversion of solar axions to photons during the propagation.