On the origin and the detection of characteristic axion wiggles in photon spectra

TL;DR

This paper investigates how photon-axion oscillations in turbulent magnetic fields create characteristic spectral features, proposing new detection methods and enhancing modeling accuracy for astrophysical searches of axions.

Contribution

It introduces a Monte Carlo implementation of axion-photon oscillations in ELMAG and proposes a novel spectral wiggle detection method based on the power spectrum.

Findings

Characterized spectral features due to axion oscillations in turbulent fields.

Demonstrated the effectiveness of the power spectrum method for axion detection.

Enhanced photon propagation modeling with axion integration.

Abstract

Photons propagating in an external magnetic field may oscillate into axions or axion-like particles (ALPs). Such oscillations will lead to characteristic features in the energy spectrum of high-energy photons from astrophysical sources that can be used to probe the existence of ALPs. In this work, we revisit the signatures of these oscillations and stress the importance of a proper treatment of turbulent magnetic fields. We implement axions into ELMAG, complementing thereby the usual description of photon-axion oscillations with a Monte Carlo treatment of high-energy photon propagation and interactions. We also propose an alternative method of detecting axions through the discrete power spectrum using as observable the energy dependence of wiggles in the photon spectra.