Properties of Ultralight Bosons from Spins of Heavy Quasars via Superradiance

TL;DR

This paper uses black hole spin measurements from active galactic nuclei to set new constraints on the mass and abundance of ultra-light bosons, including axions, dark photons, and spin-2 particles, impacting dark matter models.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method linking black hole spins to ultra-light boson properties, closing gaps in the parameter space and providing bounds on their contribution to dark matter.

Findings

Set upper bounds on axion-like particles constituting up to 10% of dark matter.

Constrained vector fields to at most 10^{-6} of dark matter in specific mass ranges.

Limited spin-2 fields to at most 10^{-9} of dark matter within certain mass ranges.

Abstract

The mass and the spin of accreting and jetted black holes, at the center of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs), can be probed by analyzing their electromagnetic spectra. For this purpose, we use the Spin-Modified Fundamental Plane of black hole activity, which non-linearly connects the following four variables (in the source frame): radio luminosity, X-ray or optical luminosity (via the [OIII] emission line), black hole mass and spin. Taking into account the uncertainties in luminosity measurements, conversion factors, relativistic beaming and physical properties of the AGN system, we derive lower bounds on the spins of a group of heavy, jetted AGNs. Using these results, we study the direct implications on the mass spectrum of the ultra-light particles of scalar (axion-like), vector (dark photon) and tensor types (additional spin-2 particles). We close unexplored gap in the parameter space $10^{-20}-10^{-19}$eV. We obtain upper bounds on the axion decay constant (equivalently lower bounds on the self-interaction strength) considering self-interactions could prevent the axion particles entering the instability, and be the reason for non-observation of superradiance. Assuming axion/scalar is described by mass and decay constant, we obtain upper limits on what fraction of dark matter can be formed by ultra-light particles and find that single spieces axion-like light particle can constitute at most $10\%$ of the dark matter in the mass range: $ 10^{-21} < \mu \, (\mathrm{eV}) < 10^{-17}$. Moreover, we derive similar bounds for vector and spin-2 particles and find that light vector fields can constitute at most $10^{-6}$ of the dark matter in $10^{-21}\, \mathrm{eV} < \mu < 10^{-17} \, \mathrm{eV}$ range, and light spin-2 fields can constitute at most $10^{-9}$ of the dark matter in $10^{-23}\, \mathrm{eV} < \mu < 10^{-17} \, \mathrm{eV}$ range.