Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: Several laboratory experiments have published limits on axionlike particles (ALPs) with feeble couplings to electrons and masses in the kilo-electron-volt to mega-electron-volt range, under the assumption that such ALPs comprise the dark matter. We note that ALPs decay radiatively into photons, and show that for a large subset of the parameter space ostensibly probed by these experiments, the lifetime of the ALPs is shorter than the age of the Universe. Such ALPs cannot consistently make up the dark matter, which significantly affects the interpretation of published limits from GERDA, Edelweiss-III, SuperCDMS, and Majorana. Moreover, constraints from x-ray and γ-ray astronomy exclude a wide range of the ALP-electron coupling, and supersede all current laboratory limits on dark matter ALPs in the 6 keV to 1 MeV mass range. These conclusions are rather model independent, and can only be avoided at the expense of significant fine-tuning in theories where the ALP has additional couplings to other particles.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,750
Funders: Centres de Recerca de Catalunya, Generalitat de Catalunya, Vetenskapsrådet, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Institut de Física d'Altes Energies, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Direcció General de Recerca, Generalitat de Catalunya, H2020 European Research Council, HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Awards: G1419670400, G2262748287, G2309174360, G2660406951, Detecting Axion Dark Matter In The Sky And In The Lab, G3005324705, G300979063, Astronomical Signals from Axions and Axion-Like Particles, G3480869486, Axions: From Heaven to Earth, G5080475149, G5421974903, G5805502524, G6366842693, G6422100899, G6656126374, G7084143925, G712881263, G8461804941, G884778030, G99296377
OpenAlex ID: W4221146437