Exploring Axion-like Particles with Nearby Supernovae

Exploring Axion-like Particles with Nearby Supernovae

Pacific
Speaker(s) Kanji Mori, Fukuoka University
Video
Description

Please contact sjhan@berkeley.edu orĀ asuliga@berkeley.edu for zoom links.

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are hypothetical pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons which are a candidate of dark matter. Since they are thought to couple with photons, ALPs can be produced in hot astrophysical plasma. Once produced, ALPs decay into photons which may be observable with gamma-ray telescopes. I calculated the ALP emission from a thermonuclear (i.e. type Ia) supernova and a massive star in the final stage of stellar evolution. It is shown that gamma-rays that originate from ALPs can be a target of next-generation gamma-ray telescopes and provide an independent constraint on ALP parameters. Also, ALPs may affect energy transfer in core-collapse supernovae. I will mention a preliminary result on supernova explosion aided by heavy ALPs.