Propagation of axions in a strongly magnetized medium

TL;DR

This paper investigates how axions propagate in a strongly magnetized medium, revealing that a dynamic axion mass can be generated in neutron stars, significantly altering their dispersion relations compared to vacuum conditions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the generation of a dynamic axion mass in a strongly magnetized electron gas, affecting axion dispersion relations in neutron star environments.

Findings

Dynamic axion mass can fall within 10^{-5} to 10^{-2} eV range.

Axion dispersion relations are significantly altered in strong magnetic fields.

The study applies to conditions in strongly magnetized neutron stars.

Abstract

The polarization operator of an axion in a degenerate gas of electrons occupying the ground-state Landau level in a superstrong magnetic field $H\gg H_0=m_e^2c^3/e\hbar =4.41\cdot 10^{13}$ G is investigated in a model with a tree-level axion-electron coupling. It is shown that a dynamic axion mass, which can fall within the allowed range of values $(10^{-5} eV \lesssim m_a\lesssim 10^{-2} eV)$, is generated under the conditions of strongly magnetized neutron stars. As a result, the dispersion relation for axions is appreciably different from that in a vacuum.