Probing protoneutron stars with gamma-ray axionscopes

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Hauptverfasser: Lella, Alessandro, Calore, Francesca, Carenza, Pierluca, Eckner, Christopher, Giannotti, Maurizio, Lucente, Giuseppe, Mirizzi, Alessandro
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Lella, Alessandro
Calore, Francesca
Carenza, Pierluca
Eckner, Christopher
Giannotti, Maurizio
Lucente, Giuseppe
Mirizzi, Alessandro
author_facet Lella, Alessandro
Calore, Francesca
Carenza, Pierluca
Eckner, Christopher
Giannotti, Maurizio
Lucente, Giuseppe
Mirizzi, Alessandro
contents Axion-like particles (ALPs) coupled to nucleons can be efficiently produced in the interior of protoneutron stars (PNS) during supernova (SN) explosions. If these ALPs are also coupled to photons they can convert into gamma rays in the Galactic magnetic field. This SN-induced gamma-ray burst can be observable by gamma-ray telescopes like ${\textit Fermi}$-LAT if the SN is in the field of view of the detector. We show that the observable gamma-ray spectrum is sensitive to the production processes in the SN core. In particular, if the nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung is the dominant axion production channel, one expects a thermal spectrum with average energy $E_a \simeq 50$ MeV. In this case the gamma-ray spectrum observation allows for the reconstruction of the PNS temperature. In case of a sizable pion abundance in the SN core, one expects a second spectral component peaked at $E_a\simeq 200$ MeV due to axion pionic processes. We demonstrate that, through a dedicated LAT analysis, we can detect the presence of this pionic contribution, showing that the detection of the spectral shape of the gamma-ray signal represents a unique probe of the pion abundance in the PNS.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_02395
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Probing protoneutron stars with gamma-ray axionscopes
Lella, Alessandro
Calore, Francesca
Carenza, Pierluca
Eckner, Christopher
Giannotti, Maurizio
Lucente, Giuseppe
Mirizzi, Alessandro
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Axion-like particles (ALPs) coupled to nucleons can be efficiently produced in the interior of protoneutron stars (PNS) during supernova (SN) explosions. If these ALPs are also coupled to photons they can convert into gamma rays in the Galactic magnetic field. This SN-induced gamma-ray burst can be observable by gamma-ray telescopes like ${\textit Fermi}$-LAT if the SN is in the field of view of the detector. We show that the observable gamma-ray spectrum is sensitive to the production processes in the SN core. In particular, if the nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung is the dominant axion production channel, one expects a thermal spectrum with average energy $E_a \simeq 50$ MeV. In this case the gamma-ray spectrum observation allows for the reconstruction of the PNS temperature. In case of a sizable pion abundance in the SN core, one expects a second spectral component peaked at $E_a\simeq 200$ MeV due to axion pionic processes. We demonstrate that, through a dedicated LAT analysis, we can detect the presence of this pionic contribution, showing that the detection of the spectral shape of the gamma-ray signal represents a unique probe of the pion abundance in the PNS.
title Probing protoneutron stars with gamma-ray axionscopes
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.02395