Conveners
BSM with Compact Objects 1
- Aniket Joglekar (UC Riverside)
Axion stars are gravitationally-bound, ground-state configurations composed of very large numbers of axion particles. Their macroscopic properties are determined, in large part, by two fundamental energy scales: $m \ll$ eV, the mass of the axion; and $f \gg$ GeV, the decay constant or symmetry-breaking scale. In this talk, I will show how the properties of axion stars derived in previous...
Real scalar fields with attractive self-interaction may form self-bound states, called oscillons. These dense objects are ubiquitous in leading theories of dark matter and inflation; of particular interest are long-lived oscillons which survive past 14 Gyr, offering dramatic astrophysical signatures into the present day. In this talk, I will review some of the most striking observables coming...
In recent years, Bose-Einstein-condensed dark matter, also called scalar-field dark matter (SFDM), has become a popular alternative to CDM, due to its potential resolution of the small-scale problems faced by CDM. We focus on SFDM with a strong, repulsive self-interaction; the Thomas-Fermi regime of SFDM ("SFDM-TF") which provides a length scale $\sim R_\text{TF}$ below which formation of...
We present exoplanets as new targets to discover dark matter (DM). Throughout the Milky Way, DM can scatter, become captured, deposit annihilation energy, and increase the heat flow within exoplanets. We estimate upcoming infrared telescope sensitivity to this scenario, finding actionable discovery or exclusion searches. We find that DM with masses below the GeV scale can be probed with...
