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1. A CMB Millikan experiment with cosmic axiverse strings

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP07(2020)138  

   Agrawal, Prateek; Hook, Anson; Huang, Junwu (July 2020, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A bstract We study axion strings of hyperlight axions coupled to photons. Hyperlight axions — axions lighter than Hubble at recombination — are a generic prediction of the string axiverse. These axions strings produce a distinct quantized polarization rotation of CMB photons which is $$ \mathcal{O} $$ O ( α em ). As the CMB light passes many strings, this polarization rotation converts E-modes to B-modes and adds up like a random walk. Using numerical simulations we show that the expected size of the final result is well within the reach of current and future CMB experiments through the measurement of correlations of CMB B-modes with E- and T-modes. The quantized polarization rotation angle is topological in nature and can be seen as a geometric phase. Its value depends only on the anomaly coefficient and is independent of other details such as the axion decay constant. Measurement of the anomaly coefficient by measuring this rotation will provide information about the UV theory, such as the quantization of electric charge and the value of the fundamental unit of charge. The presence of axion strings in the universe relies only on a phase transition in the early universe after inflation, after which the string network rapidly approaches an attractor scaling solution. If there are additional stable topological objects such as domain walls, axions as heavy as 10 − 15 eV would be accessible. The existence of these strings could also be probed by measuring the relative polarization rotation angle between different images in gravitationally lensed quasar systems. 

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2. Role of the Schwinger effect in superradiant axion lasers

   https://doi.org/10.1103/64sc-sg9n  

   Shapiro, Bradley (October 2025, Physical Review D)

   Superradiance can cause the axion cloud around a rotating black hole to reach extremely high densities, and the decay of these axions can produce a powerful laser. The electric field of these lasers is strong enough that the Schwinger effect may become significant, resulting in the production of an electron-positron plasma. We explore the dynamics between axion lasers and this electron-positron plasma. While there are several mechanisms by which the inclusion of a plasma can impact the laser’s behavior, the most significant of these mechanisms is that the electron-positron plasma imparts an effective mass on the photon. As the plasma frequency increases, axion decay becomes energetically unfavorable, up to the point where the axion no longer decays into photons, shutting off the laser. We find that the impact of the electron-positron plasma on the dynamics of the system depend heavily on the parameters, specifically the axion mass $m_{\varphi }$and the superradiant coupling $\alpha$, and that we may divide parameter space into three regimes: the unenhanced, enhanced, and unstable regimes. In the unenhanced and enhanced regimes, the system will eventually settle into an equilibrium state, emitting a laser of constant luminosity while the number of axions remains constant. In the unenhanced regime, this equilibrium state can be calculated while neglecting the effects of Schwinger production; in the enhanced regime, the equilibrium luminosity is slightly larger than what it would be without Schwinger production. In the unstable regime, the electron-positron plasma suppresses axion decay to the point where the system is never able to reach equilibrium; instead, the axions continue to grow superradiantly. In all three cases, the production of superradiant axions will eventually cause the black hole to spin down to the point where superradiance ceases. 

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3. Pulsar Nulling and Vacuum Radio Emission from Axion Clouds

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.161001  

   Caputo, Andrea; Witte, Samuel J; Philippov, Alexander A; Jacobson, Ted (October 2024, Physical Review Letters)

   Nonrelativistic axions can be efficiently produced in the polar caps of pulsars, resulting in the formation of a dense cloud of gravitationally bound axions. Here, we investigate the interplay between such an axion cloud and the electrodynamics in the pulsar magnetosphere, focusing specifically on the dynamics in the polar caps, where the impact of the axion cloud is expected to be most pronounced. For sufficiently light axions $m_a\lesssim {10}^{-7}\mathrm{eV}$, we show that the axion cloud can occasionally screen the local electric field responsible for particle acceleration and pair production, inducing a periodic nulling of the pulsar’s intrinsic radio emission. At larger axion masses, the small-scale fluctuations in the axion field tend to suppress the backreaction of the axion on the electrodynamics; however, we point out that the incoherent oscillations of the axion in short-lived regions of vacuum near the neutron star surface can produce a narrow radio line, which provides a complementary source of radio emission to the plasma-resonant emission processes identified in previous work. While this Letter focuses on the leading order correction to pair production in the magnetosphere, we speculate that there can exist dramatic deviations in the electrodynamics of these systems when the axion backreaction becomes nonlinear. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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4. Overview of the Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment (CASPEr)

   Jackson Kimball, D. F.; Afach, S.; Aybas, D.; Blanchard, J. W.; Budker, D.; Centers, G.; Engler, M.; Figueroa, N. L.; Garcon, A.; Graham, P. W.; et al (January 2020, Springer proceedings in physics)

   Carosi, G.; Rybka, G. (Ed.)

   An overview of our experimental program to search for axion and axion-like-particle (ALP) dark matter using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques is presented. An oscillating axion field can exert a time-varying torque on nuclear spins either directly or via generation of an oscillating nuclear electric dipole moment (EDM). Magnetic resonance techniques can be used to detect such an effect. The first-generation experiments explore many decades of ALP parameter space beyond the current astrophysical and laboratory bounds. It is anticipated that future versions of the experiments will be sensitive to the axions associated with quantum chromodynamics (QCD) having masses <10^(−9) eV/c^2. 

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5. Light axion emission and the formation of merging binary black holes

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.108.015034  

   Croon, Djuna; Sakstein, Jeremy (July 2023, Physical Review D)

   We study the impact of stellar cooling due to light axion emission on the formation and evolution of black hole binaries, via stable mass transfer and the common envelope scenario.~We find that in the presence of light axion emission, no binary black hole mergers are formed with black holes in the lower mass gap ($$M_{\rm BH} < 4 {\rm M}_\odot $$) via the common envelope formation channel.~In some systems, this happens because axions prevent Roche lobe overflow.~In others, they prevent the common envelope from being ejected.~Our results apply to axions with couplings $$ g_{a \gamma} \gtrsim 10^{-10}\, \rm GeV^{-1}$$ (to photons) or $$\alpha_{ae} \gtrsim 10^{-26} $$ (to electrons) and masses $$ m_a \ll 10 \, \rm keV$$.~Light, weakly coupled particles may therefore apparently produce a mass gap $$2 {\rm M}_\odot < M_{\rm BH} < 4 {\rm M}_\odot$$ in the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA data, when no mass gap is present in the stellar remnant population. 

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