2001/12/07 by Cédric Deffayet, Diego Harari, Jean-Philippe Uzan +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.66.043517
published as Phys.Rev.D66:043517,2002 · 12 pages, 1 figure
arxiv created 2001/12/07 · openalex publication_date 2002/08/19 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
It has been suggested recently that the observed dimming of distant type Ia supernovae may be a consequence of mixing of the photons with very light axions. We point out that the effect of the plasma, in which the photons are propagating, must be taken into account. This effect changes the oscillation probability and renders the dimming frequency dependent, contrary to observations. One may hope to accommodate the data by averaging the oscillations over many different coherence domains. We estimate the effect of coherence loss, either due to the inhomogeneities of the magnetic field or of the intergalactic plasma. These estimates indicate that the achromaticity problem can be resolved only with very specific, and probably unrealistic, properties of the intergalactic medium.