Looking for Axion Dark Matter in Dwarf Spheroidals

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of upcoming radio telescopes like SKA to detect axion dark matter decay signals from dwarf spheroidal galaxies, potentially improving sensitivity significantly.

Contribution

It demonstrates that SKA observations could enhance current axion decay detection sensitivity by a factor of five using about 100 hours of observation.

Findings

SKA can improve sensitivity to axion decay signals by five times.

Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are promising targets due to reduced astrophysical uncertainties.

Approximately 100 hours of observation are sufficient for significant sensitivity gains.

Abstract

We study the extent to which the decay of cold dark matter axions can be probed with forthcoming radio telescopes such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). In particular we focus on signals arising from dwarf spheroidal galaxies, where astrophysical uncertainties are reduced and the expected magnetic field strengths are such that signals arising from axion decay may dominate over axion-photon conversion in a magnetic field. We show that with $\sim100$ hours of observing time, SKA could improve current sensitivity by a factor of about five.