Axion forces in axion backgrounds
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866914186897915904 |
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| author | Grossman, Yuval Yu, Bingrong Zhou, Siyu |
| author_facet | Grossman, Yuval Yu, Bingrong Zhou, Siyu |
| contents | Axions can naturally be very light due to the protection of an (approximate) shift symmetry. Because of their pseudoscalar nature, the long-range force mediated by the axion at tree level is spin dependent, which cannot lead to observable effects between two unpolarized macroscopic objects. At the one-loop level, however, the exchange of two axions does mediate a spin-independent force. This force is coherently enhanced in the presence of an axion background. In this work, we study the two-axion exchange force in a generic axion background. We find that the breaking of the axion shift symmetry plays a crucial role in determining this force. The background-induced axion force $V_{\rm bkg}$ vanishes in the shift-symmetry restoration limit. The shift symmetry can be broken either explicitly by non-perturbative effects or effectively by the axion background. When the shift symmetry is broken, $V_{\rm bkg}$ scales as $1/r$ and could be further enhanced by a large occupation number of the background axions. We investigate possible experimental probes of this effect in two distinct scenarios: an axion dark matter background and a solar axion flux, using fifth-force searches and atomic spectroscopy experiments. In the axion dark matter case, we find that the background-induced axion force can place strong constraints on axion couplings and masses, comparable to existing astrophysical bounds. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_00104 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Axion forces in axion backgrounds Grossman, Yuval Yu, Bingrong Zhou, Siyu High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Theory Axions can naturally be very light due to the protection of an (approximate) shift symmetry. Because of their pseudoscalar nature, the long-range force mediated by the axion at tree level is spin dependent, which cannot lead to observable effects between two unpolarized macroscopic objects. At the one-loop level, however, the exchange of two axions does mediate a spin-independent force. This force is coherently enhanced in the presence of an axion background. In this work, we study the two-axion exchange force in a generic axion background. We find that the breaking of the axion shift symmetry plays a crucial role in determining this force. The background-induced axion force $V_{\rm bkg}$ vanishes in the shift-symmetry restoration limit. The shift symmetry can be broken either explicitly by non-perturbative effects or effectively by the axion background. When the shift symmetry is broken, $V_{\rm bkg}$ scales as $1/r$ and could be further enhanced by a large occupation number of the background axions. We investigate possible experimental probes of this effect in two distinct scenarios: an axion dark matter background and a solar axion flux, using fifth-force searches and atomic spectroscopy experiments. In the axion dark matter case, we find that the background-induced axion force can place strong constraints on axion couplings and masses, comparable to existing astrophysical bounds. |
| title | Axion forces in axion backgrounds |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Theory |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.00104 |