Speaker
Description
The small-scale distribution of dark matter is expected to
feature fine-grained substructure on solar-system scales, arising from
the gravitational folding of an initially smooth phase-space sheet into
many overlapping streams. For axions—especially in the post-inflationary
scenario—early-Universe clustering can further amplify these densities.
While such substructure is typically considered irrelevant for direct
detection, it may significantly affect axion searches. We present
several models of axion substructure and evaluate their impact on
detectability. Our results show that high-frequency-resolution analyses
can reveal these features, potentially enhancing axion discovery
prospects even without reaching standard sensitivity thresholds.
