Speaker
Prof.
Malcolm Fairbairn
(King's College London)
Description
If dark matter is composed of axions, then axion stars form in the cores of dark matter halos. These stars are unstable above a critical mass, decaying to radio photons that heat the intergalactic medium, offering a new channel for axion indirect detection. Axion star decays lead to efficient reionization of the intergalactic medium during the dark ages. By comparing this non-standard reionization with Planck legacy measurements of the Thompson optical width, we exclude new regions of axion parameter space.
Author
Prof.
Malcolm Fairbairn
(King's College London)
