Search for Axions from Magnetic White Dwarfs with Chandra
Orion Ning, Christopher Dessert, Vi Hong, Benjamin R. Safdi

TL;DR
This study uses Chandra X-ray observations of magnetic white dwarfs to search for axions, constraining their properties and finding no evidence, while also analyzing an unexplained low-energy X-ray excess.
Contribution
First constraints on axion-electron and axion-photon couplings from magnetic white dwarf observations with Chandra.
Findings
No evidence for axions within the studied energy range.
Established upper limits on axion couplings at 95% confidence.
Detected an unexplained low-energy X-ray excess in one white dwarf.
Abstract
Low mass axion-like particles could be produced in abundance within the cores of hot, compact magnetic white dwarf (MWD) stars from electron bremsstrahlung and converted to detectable X-rays in the strong magnetic fields surrounding these systems. In this work, we constrain the existence of such axions from two dedicated Chandra X-ray observations of 40 ks each in the energy range 1 - 10 keV towards the magnetic white dwarfs (MWDs) WD 1859+148 and PG 0945+246. We find no evidence for axions, which constrains the axion-electron times axion-photon coupling to () GeV for PG 0945+246 (WD 1859+148) at 95% confidence for axion masses eV. We find an excess of low-energy X-rays between 1 - 3 keV for WD 1859+148 but determine that the spectral morphology is too soft to…
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Taxonomy
TopicsDark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research · Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
