Axion dark matter-induced echo of supernova remnants

Axions are a theoretically promising dark matter (DM) candidate. In the presence of radiation from bright astrophysical sources at radio frequencies, nonrelativistic DM axions can undergo stimulated decay to two nearly back-to-back photons, meaning that bright sources of radio waves will have a counterimage ("gegenschein") in nearly the exact opposite spatial direction. The counterimage will be spectrally distinct from backgrounds, taking the form of a narrow radio line centered at $ν= m_a/4π$ with a width determined by Doppler broadening in the DM halo, $Δν/ν\sim 10^{-3}$. In this work, we show that the axion decay-induced echoes of supernova remnants may be bright enough to be detectable. Their non-detection may be able to set the strongest limits to date on axion DM in the $\sim 1-10 \, μ$eV mass range where there are gaps in coverage from existing experiments.

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