Stringent axion constraints with Event Horizon Telescope polarimetric measurements of M87

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Chen, Yifan
  • Yuxin Liu
  • Ru-Sen Lu
  • Yosuke Mizuno
  • Jing Shu
  • Xiao Xue
  • Qiang Yuan
  • Yue Zhao

The hitherto unprecedented angular resolution of the Event Horizon Telescope has created exciting opportunities in the search for new physics. Recently, the linear polarization of radiation emitted near the supermassive black hole M87* was measured on four separate days, precisely enabling tests of the existence of a dense axion cloud produced by a spinning black hole. The presence of an axion cloud leads to a frequency-independent oscillation in the electric vector position angle of this linear polarization. For the nearly face-on M87*, this oscillation in the electric vector position angle appears as a propagating wave along the photon ring. In this paper, we leverage the azimuthal distribution of electric vector position angle measured by the Event Horizon Telescope to study the axion-photon coupling. We propose a novel differential analysis procedure to reduce the astrophysical background, and derive stringent constraints on the existence of axions in the previously unexplored mass window of similar to(10(-21)-10(-20)) eV.

Original languageEnglish
JournalNature Astronomy
Volume6
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)592-598
Number of pages7
ISSN2397-3366
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Mar 2022
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • BLACK-HOLE, ACCRETION FLOWS, MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC SIMULATIONS, CP CONSERVATION, POLARIZATION, EMISSION, SPIN

Links

ID: 337976315