A Universal Bound on QCD Axions from Supernovae

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2410.19902
• Publication Date: 2024-01-01
• Authors: Springmann, Konst...; Stadlbauer, Michael; Stelzl, Stefan; Weiler, Andreas
• Keywords: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE); Nuclear Theory (nucl-th); High Energy Physics - Phenomenology; High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph); Nuclear Theory; FOS: Physical sciences; Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

We identify a new production channel for QCD axions in supernova environments that contributes to axion emissivity for all models solving the strong CP problem. This channel arises at tree-level from a shift-symmetry-breaking operator constructed at next-to-leading order in Chiral Perturbation Theory. In scenarios where model-dependent derivative couplings to nucleons are absent, this sets the strongest model-independent constraint on the axion mass, improving on existing bounds by two orders of magnitude.<br/>7 pages, 7 figures<br/>