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An Argument for Axion Dark Matter

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Sources and Detection of Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Physics ((SPPHY,volume 148))

Abstract

An argument is presented that the dark matter is axions, at least in part. It has three steps. First, axions behave differently from the other forms of cold dark matter because they form a rethermalizing Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Second, there is a tool to distinguish axion BEC from the other dark matter candidates on the basis of observation, namely the study of the inner caustics of galactic halos. Third, the observational evidence for caustic rings of dark matter is consistent in every aspect with axion BEC, but not with the other proposed forms of dark matter.

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Acknowledgements

 I would like to thank the Aspen Center for Physics for its support (NSF Grant #1066293) and its hospitality while working on this paper. This work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under grant DE-FG02-97ER41209.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Pierre Sikivie

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  1. Pierre Sikivie
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Correspondence to Pierre Sikivie .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. UCLA Physics & Astronomy, Los Angeles, USA

    David Cline

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Sikivie, P. (2013). An Argument for Axion Dark Matter. In: Cline, D. (eds) Sources and Detection of Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe. Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 148. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7241-0_3

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