Dark Matter Particle: Is Axion the Answer?

[wolram]

Is there a non hypothetical particle [aka axion] that can be the make up of Dark Matter?

 

[Orodruin]

Partially true. There is a hypothetical particle known as axion which could make up the dark matter if it is proven to exist.

 

[rootone]

Some hold that normal neutrinos can partially explain dark matter, and these are not hypothetical.
However unless we have a big misunderstanding of neutrinos they cannot possibly explain the amount of dark matter which apparently exists.

 

[wolram]

I thought that the axion is an supersymmetric particle and that super-symmetry has not been proved

 

[Orodruin]

No, the axion does not a priori have anything to do with supersymmetry. It is introduced as a way of solving the strong CP problem and at the same time results in a dark matter candidate. You can do both, i.e., introduce the axion and supersymmetry, the superpartner of the axion would be the axino.

The "standard" SUSY dark matter candidate would be a neutralino, i.e., the superpartner of some linear combination of Z, photon, and neutral Higgses.

 

[wolram]

According to Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axion

Theory suggests that axions were created abundantly during the Big Bang.[35] Because of a unique coupling to the instanton field of the primordial universe (the "misalignment mechanism"), an effective dynamical friction is created during the acquisition of mass following cosmic inflation. This robs all such primordial axions of their kinetic energy.

If axions have low mass, thus preventing other decay modes, theories predict that the universe would be filled with a very cold Bose–Einstein condensate of primordial axions. Hence, axions could plausibly explain the dark matter problem of physical cosmology.[36] Observational studies are underway, but they are not yet sufficiently sensitive to probe the mass regions if they are the solution to the dark matter problem. High mass axions of the kind searched for by Jain and Singh (2007)[37] would not persist in the modern universe. Moreover, if axions exist, scatterings with other particles in the thermal bath of the early universe unavoidably produce a population of hot axions.[38]

So Axions would be hot dark matter, not cold dark matter?

 

[Orodruin]

So Axions would be hot dark matter, not cold dark matter?

This would require them to come into thermal contact with the rest of the Universe. I cannot speak for the paper they cite, but as far as I understand from people working on axions, this is not generally accepted and the idea is that they are not thermally produced.

 

[wolram]

This paper shows that Axions can be hot or cold, more likely hot

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1310.1774v1.pdf

We have examined a possibility that the pNG bosons, especially the QCD axions, account for both HDM and CDM in the Universe, the former of which has been suggested by the recent observations (cf. Eqs. (1) and (2)). We divide the production process of the axion HDM into thermal and non-thermal ones. In the thermal case, the QCD axion can explain HDM for the decay constant fa ≈ 3 × 106 − 107 GeV, which however is in tension with the SN1987A limit even for the hadronic axion models. On the other hand, the axion HDM can be naturally produced by the saxion decay. This is possible for the saxion mass ranging from O(103 ) GeV to O(1010) GeV and fa . 3 × 1010 GeV. Note that the non-thermally produced axions need to be “colder” than the ambient plasma, in order to explain the hierarchy between the effective HDM mass of O(0.1) eV and the physical axion mass ma = 0.006 eV(fa/109 GeV)−1 (cf. Eq. (11)). We have discussed two cases in which such axions are produced. In the case (i), there is a latetime entropy production which dilutes the axions produced by the saxion decay, assuming that the saxion dominates the Universe and decays dominantly into a pair of axions. In the case (ii), the saxion decays into a pair of axions when it is subdominant. Our analysis can be also applied to the case where the saxion coherent oscillations partially evaporates into plasma after being trapped at the origin by the thermal effects [6]. We have pointed out that the axion HDM can be a natural outcome of the saxion trapped at the origin. The axion CDM can be produced by either the initial misalignment mechanism or domain wall annihilation

 

[wolram]

From Wiki.

One possible WDM candidate particle with a mass of a few keV comes from introducing two new, zero charge, zero lepton number fermions to the Standard Model of Particle Physics: "keV-mass inert fermions" (keVins) and "GeV-mass inert fermions" (GeVins). keVins are overproduced if they reach thermal equilibrium in the early universe, but in some scenarios the entropy production from the decays of unstable heavier particles can suppresses their abundance to the correct value. These particles are considered "inert" because they only have suppressed interactions with the Z boson. Sterile neutrinos with masses of a few keV are possible candidates for keVins. At temperatures below theelectroweak scale their only interactions with standard model particles are weak interactions due to their mixing with ordinary neutrinos. Due to the smallness of the mixing angle they are not overproduced because they freeze out before reaching thermal equilibrium. Their properties are consistent with astrophysical bounds coming from structure formation and the Pauli principle if their mass is larger than 1-8 keV.

In February 2014, different analyses[1][2] have extracted from the spectrum of X-ray emissions observed by XMM-Newton, a monochromatic signal around 3.5 keV. This signal is coming from different galaxy cluster (like Perseus or Centaurus ) and several scenarios of warm dark matter can justify such a line. We can cite for example a 3.5 keV candidate annihilating into 2 photons,[3] or a 7 keV dark matter particle decaying into photon and neutrino.[4]

 

[Orodruin]

Do you have further questions? Simply repasting from Wikipedia articles is not going to further any productive discussions.

 

[wolram]

According to this site warm dark matter is a better candidate, than cold dark matter, my question is why do cosmologist stick to cold dark matter in their theories

http://chalonge.obspm.fr/colloque2015.html

 

[rootone]

While we are at this, has the MACHO hypothesis been completely ruled out?
I do know it's no longer popular, but could this explain at least partly what the missing mass is?
A large amount of ordinary baryonic matter that never quite aggregated enough to become galaxies, maybe more failed brown dwarf stars than we thought?

 

[wolram]

rootone, this is from Wiki, it seems some thing around 1% of Dark Matter is Machos
A MACHO may be detected when it passes in front of or nearly in front of a star and the MACHO's gravity bends the light, causing the star to appear brighter in an example ofgravitational lensing known as gravitational microlensing. Several groups have searched for MACHOs by searching for the microlensing amplification of light. These groups have ruled out dark matter being explained by MACHOs with mass in the range 0.00000001 solar masses (0.3 lunar masses) to 100 solar masses. One group, the MACHO collaboration, claims to have found enough microlensing to predict the existence of many MACHOs with mass of about 0.5 solar masses, enough to make up perhaps 20% of the dark matter in the galaxy.[2] This suggests that MACHOs could be white dwarfs or red dwarfs which have similar masses. However, red and white dwarfs are not completely dark; they do emit some light, and so can be searched for with the Hubble Telescope and with proper motion surveys. These searches have ruled out the possibility that these objects make up a significant fraction of dark matter in our galaxy. Another group, the EROS2 collaboration does not confirm the signal claims by the MACHO group. They did not find enough microlensing effect with a sensitivity higher by a factor 2.[3] Observations using the Hubble Space Telescope's NICMOS instrument showed that less than one percent of the halo mass is composed of red dwarfs.[4][5] This corresponds to a negligible fraction of the dark matter halo mass. Therefore, the missing mass problem is not solved by MACHOs.

 

[ChrisVer]

The axion doesn't have to be necessarily supersymmetric. Of course it can be extended into supersymmetric and supergravity theories.

The axion was first proposed as a resolution to the Strong CP-problem (by Peccei-Quinn and Weinberg-Wilczek) and was later on seen as CDM candidate.
I think that CDM is needed to explain the structure formation and CMB density anisotropies, whereas HDM can't do that.

As for whether axions are HDM or CDM, I think it's more interesting to look at them as candidates for CDM (for the size of which we don't have a verified component). It all depends on when axions were first created (at what temperatures the PQ symmetry broke relative to the inflation).

 

[wolram]

Are Axions the only dark matter candidate?

 

[Chalnoth]

Are Axions the only dark matter candidate?

Certainly not. The most commonly-thought of is a supersymmetric particle, where if supersymmetry is true then the lightest supersymmetric particle would become dark matter. The neutralino is the most common, but there are other possibilities as well.

Axions are usually considered a more exotic dark matter candidate, actually, because their production mechanism is a bit elaborate. But personal tastes always vary with this sort of thing.

 

[wolram]

In addition to the mainstream candidates , many more exotic candidates have been suggested - WIMPzillas, Q-balls, gravitinos, etc. are these still plausible

 

[Chronos]

Sterile neutrinos still appear viable for at least some fraction of dark matter. The plus side is they fit the standard model.

 

[Orodruin]

The plus side is they fit the standard model.

I would say this is something purely subjective. They certainly are not part of the standard model and there are several possibilities of extending it which would be fine with having the SM as a limit. The introduction of right-handed neutrinos into the SM may be minimalistic to some extent, but that is another issue.

 

[orricl]

Dark matter is really a mysterious monster, if susy exists, then supersymmetric particle must be its candidate, and if not, I think we should jump out the old thinking way and envisage a new theory to solve all of thorny problems completely.

 

[ChrisVer]

Dark matter is really a mysterious monster, if susy exists, then supersymmetric particle must be its candidate, and if not, I think we should jump out the old thinking way and envisage a new theory to solve all of thorny problems completely.

SUSY is just a candidate... you can as well do other things , like introducing extra particles and extending SM (introduce some fermions). In fact by doing so, you are gaining the same things as you did with SUSY without asking for it -you could say you obtain the neutralinos, without asking for SUSY.
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1403.7744.pdf

Again axions seem better candidates for people who don't find susy attractive anymore [axions don't come from supersymmetric theories], since they exist to solve a very interesting problem of the Standard Model. It's up to personal preferences as long as experimental results are missing.

 

[Orodruin]

Thread reopened after deleting several messages. Please refrain from promoting personal theories or replying to such posts (report them instead).

 

[ohwilleke]

In answer to the initial post question: Is there any non-hypothetical particle that could be dark matter?

The short answer is no. There are no Standard Model fermions or bosons or composite particles made up of them that could be dark matter.

Re Axions and Hot v. Warm v. Cold dark matter.

Dark matter comes in two basic kinds: thermal relic dark matter and non-thermal relic dark matter.

Thermal relic dark matter comes into being in the early universe and isn't appreciably created or destroyed thereafter. There is a functional relationship between the mass of a thermal relic and its mean velocity. Hot dark matter (basically 1 eV mass thermal relics and lighter) move at relativistic speeds (i.e. close to the speed of light). Warm dark matter is basically on the order of the 1000 eV mass range and moves slower. Cold dark matter would have masses of 1,000,000,000 eV and more per particle and move slower yet.

The mean velocity of dark matter is functionally related to the amount of structure in the universe. Higher velocities make for more homogeneous distributions of matter with fewer clumps. Lower velocities produce clumpier matter distributions. Hot dark matter would make it hard for galaxies to clump together. Warm dark matter hypothetically roughly produces our current level of galactic structure which is why it is a popular dark matter candidate. One reason for concern about Cold Dark Matter is that it produces more substructure of small galaxies and structure within galaxies than observed, at least in current simulations, which aren't perfect.

Axions have hot dark matter mass, but are not hot dark matter because it is not a thermal relic. Instead, axion dark matter is constantly created and destroyed and in equilibrium at the right aggregate dark matter amount. Its mean velocity is not a function of its mass and has to be determined by other means. The mean velocity of axions determines if they will act as hot, warm or cold dark matter thermal relics in terms of structure creation.

Any dark matter candidate must be electromagnetically neutral, have essentially no weak force interactions (or a mass significantly in excess of 45 GeV, half of the Z boson mass), and no strong force interactions, but must interact via gravity like any other matter. It could have interactions with ordinary matter via "fermi contact forces" (i.e. fermionic dark matter can't be in the same place at the same time as other fermionic matter), or beyond the Standard Model forces either with ordinary matter or with other dark matter particles. There could be a single kind of dark matter particle (fermion or boson) or many kinds.

Axion dark matter theories usually assume two different beyond the Standard Model particles - the axion itself, and a "dark photon" which is often similar to a photon but with mass often in the 1,000,000 eV range, that mediates a new force between axions and also has some interactions with Standard Model particles.

Direct detection experiments rule out dark matter that interacts with ordinary matter at least as strongly as neutrinos in a mass range of about 5 GeV to 600 GeV (1 GeV=1,000,000,000 eV). Planck data favors dark matter with mean lifetimes much longer than the age of the universe.

One common candidate for dark matter is the "sterile neutrino" which has all of the particle properties of a neutrino except that it does not interact via the weak force at all. Sometimes this term is simply used to describe particles with these properties. At other time this term is used more specifically to refer to a particle with those properties that oscillates back and forth with Standard Model neutrino states or otherwise fits in the neutrino part of the Standard Model table of fermions.

Another common candidate for dark matter is a "WIMP" (weakly interacting massive particle), such as the lightest stable supersymmetric particle (LSP). Historically, one imagined WIMPs interacting via the weak force but not other Standard Model forces and having a mass in the tens to hundreds of GeVs. The term "weak" in WIMP is sometimes used in the sense that it has weak force interactions (i.e. that it couples to W and Z bosons) and sometimes used in the sense that it does not interact with ordinary baryonic matter very strongly by whatever means it may interact.

A third common candidate for dark matter is a gravitino, which is the spin-3/2 supersymmetric partner of the graviton in Supergravity theories. It is much like a WIMP but spin-3/2 rather than spin-1/2.

 

[Puma]

What is this house made of; bricks and mortar, are you sure have a magnifying glass; oh it's made of sand and glue, have a huge microscope; oh it's made of atoms... Everything is usually much much more complex that first observation. Could a boson be made of a hundred different things, yes, as with dark matter. We feel we have reached a fundamental level, as we are looking so very hard, but we could be out by a magnification factor of this house is made of bricks and mortar. (Not a particle physicist here).