Enhanced Early Galaxy Formation in JWST from Axion Dark Matter?

TL;DR

This paper proposes that axion-like particle dark matter models with delayed oscillation onset can explain early galaxy formation observed by JWST, offering new insights into dark matter properties and structure formation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel ALP dark matter model with specific mass ranges that can enhance early galaxy formation and align with observational constraints.

Findings

Enhanced early galaxy formation in ALP models with delayed oscillation.

Viable ALP mass range of 10^{-22} to 10^{-19} eV for explaining JWST observations.

Potential signatures in small-scale dark matter structures and experimental searches.

Abstract

We demonstrate that enhanced early galaxy formation can generically arise in axion-like particle (ALP) dark matter (DM) models with a delayed onset of axion field oscillation. In these models, the formation of localized massive objects enhances structure formation, potentially addressing the excess recently observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), while remaining consistent with existing constraints. We identify viable parameter space with the ALP mass in the range of $10^{-22}~{\rm eV}<m_a<10^{-19}~\rm eV$. In addition, we show that the ALP parameter regions of interest can lead to intriguing complementary signatures in the small-scale structure of DM halos and existing experimental searches for ALPs.