A possible blazar spectral irregularity case caused by photon--axionlike-particle oscillations

TL;DR

This paper reports a potential gamma-ray spectral feature in a blazar that could be explained by photon-axionlike-particle oscillations, suggesting a possible new physics signal in astrophysical data.

Contribution

It presents the first analysis of a narrow gamma-ray feature in a blazar spectrum as a potential photon-ALP oscillation signal, with specific parameter constraints.

Findings

Detected a 7 GeV line-like feature with 2.5-3.0 sigma significance.

Fitted the feature with a photon-ALP oscillation model, constraining ALP parameters.

Discussed the tension of these parameters with previous experiments.

Abstract

We report detection of a line-like feature in the $\gamma$-ray spectrum of the blazar B0516$-$621, for which the data obtained with the Large Area Telescope onboard {\it Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope (Fermi)} are analyzed. The feature is at $\sim$7\,GeV and different analyses are conducted to check its real presence. We determine that it has a significance of 2.5--3.0$\sigma$, and cautiously note the presence of possible systematics in the data which could reduce the significance. This putative feature is too narrow to be explained with radiation processes generally considered for jet emission of blazars. Instead, it could be a signal due to the oscillations between photons and axion-like particles (ALPs) in the source's jet. We investigate this possibility by fitting the spectrum with the photon-ALP oscillation model, and find that the parameter space of ALP mass $m_a\leq 10^{-8}$\,eV and the coupling constant (between photons and ALPs) $g_{a\gamma}$=1.16--1.48$\times 10^{-10}$\,GeV$^{-1}$ can provide a fit to the line-like feature, while the magnetic field at the emission site of $\gamma$-rays is fixed at 0.7\,G. The ranges for $m_a$ and $g_{a\gamma}$ are in tension with those previously obtained from several experiments or methods, but on the other hand in line with some of the others. This spectral-feature case and its possible indication for ALP existence could be checked from similar studies of other blazar systems and also suggest a direction of effort for building future high-energy facilities that would have high sensitivities and spectral resolutions for searching for similar features.