TY - JOUR
T1 - Neutron star-axion star collisions in the light of multimessenger astronomy
AU - Dietrich, Tim
AU - Day, Francesca
AU - Clough, Katy
AU - Coughlin, Michael
AU - Niemeyer, Jens
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
PY - 2019/2/11
Y1 - 2019/2/11
N2 - Axions are increasingly favoured as a candidate particle for the dark matter in galaxies, since they satisfy the observational requirements for cold dark matter and are theoretically well motivated. Fluctuations in the axion field give rise to stable localized overdensities known as axion stars, which, for the most massive, compact cases, are potential neutron star mimickers. In principle, there are no fundamental arguments against the multimessenger observations of GW170817/GRB170817A/AT2017gfo arising from the merger of a neutron star with a neutron star mimicker, rather than from a binary neutron star. To constrain this possibility and better understand the astrophysical signatures of a neutron star-axion star (NSAS) merger, we present in this work a detailed example case of an NSAS merger based on full 3D numerical relativity simulations, and give an overview of the many potential observables - ranging from gravitational waves to optical and near-infrared electromagnetic signals, radio flares, fast radio bursts, gamma ray bursts, and neutrino emission. We discuss the individual channels and estimate to what distances the current and future observatories might be able to detect such an NSAS merger. Such signals could constrain the unknown axion mass and its couplings to standard baryonic matter, thus enhancing our understanding of the dark matter sector of the Universe.
AB - Axions are increasingly favoured as a candidate particle for the dark matter in galaxies, since they satisfy the observational requirements for cold dark matter and are theoretically well motivated. Fluctuations in the axion field give rise to stable localized overdensities known as axion stars, which, for the most massive, compact cases, are potential neutron star mimickers. In principle, there are no fundamental arguments against the multimessenger observations of GW170817/GRB170817A/AT2017gfo arising from the merger of a neutron star with a neutron star mimicker, rather than from a binary neutron star. To constrain this possibility and better understand the astrophysical signatures of a neutron star-axion star (NSAS) merger, we present in this work a detailed example case of an NSAS merger based on full 3D numerical relativity simulations, and give an overview of the many potential observables - ranging from gravitational waves to optical and near-infrared electromagnetic signals, radio flares, fast radio bursts, gamma ray bursts, and neutrino emission. We discuss the individual channels and estimate to what distances the current and future observatories might be able to detect such an NSAS merger. Such signals could constrain the unknown axion mass and its couplings to standard baryonic matter, thus enhancing our understanding of the dark matter sector of the Universe.
KW - Dark matter
KW - Gravitational waves
KW - Hydrodynamics
KW - Methods: numerical
KW - Stars: neutron
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068928498&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85068928498&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/sty3158
DO - 10.1093/mnras/sty3158
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85068928498
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 483
SP - 908
EP - 914
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 1
ER -