Article

# Dimming Supernovae without Cosmic Acceleration

Department of Physics, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, United States
(Impact Factor: 7.51). 05/2002; 88(16):161302. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.161302
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT

We present a simple model where photons propagating in extragalactic magnetic fields can oscillate into very light axions. The oscillations may convert some of the photons, departing a distant supernova, into axions, making the supernova appear dimmer and hence more distant than it really is. Averaging over different configurations of the magnetic field we find that the dimming saturates at about one-third of the light from the supernovae at very large redshifts. This results in a luminosity distance versus redshift curve almost indistinguishable from that produced by the accelerating Universe, if the axion mass and coupling scale are m approximately 10(-16) eV, M approximately 4 x 10(11) GeV. This phenomenon may be an alternative to the accelerating Universe for explaining supernova observations.

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Available from: John Terning,
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• "It is interesting to note that the photon-ALP mixing in magnetic fields of different astrophysical objects including active galaxies, clusters of galaxies, intergalactic space and the Milky Way, may be the cause of the remarkable phenomena like dimming of stars luminosity (e.g. supernovae in the extragalactic magnetic field (Csaki et al. 2002; Mirizzi et al. 2005)) and " light shining through a wall " (e.g. light from very distant objects, travelling through the Universe (De Angelis et al. 2011; Fairbairn et al. 2011)). "
##### Article: Thermomagnetic Ettingshausen-Nernst effect in tachocline and axion mechanism of Sun luminosity
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ABSTRACT: It is shown that the hypothesis of the axion mechanism of Sun luminosity suggesting that the solar axion particles are born in the core of the Sun and may be efficiently converted back into $\gamma$-quanta in the magnetic field of the solar overshoot tachocline is physically relevant. As a result, it is also shown that the intensity variations of the $\gamma$-quanta of axion origin, induced by the magnetic field variations in the tachocline via the thermomagnetic Ettingshausen-Nernst effect, directly cause the Sun luminosity variations and eventually characterize the active and quiet states of the Sun. Within the framework of this mechanism estimations of the strength of the axion coupling to a photon ($g_{a \gamma} = 3.6 \cdot 10^{-11} GeV^{-1}$) and the hadronic axion particle mass ($m_a \sim 2.3 \cdot 10^{-2} eV$) have been obtained. It is also shown that the claimed axion parameters do not contradict any known experimental and theoretical model-independent limitations.
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• "P γ→a ≃ 1 3 [1 − exp(−d/L decay )], (2.4) where the decay length is defined as L decay = 8/(3µ 2 L dom ) (2.5) in the limit µL dom << 1 for µ = B × g [26] "
##### Article: Probing the scale of ALP interactions with Fermi blazars
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ABSTRACT: Gamma-rays from cosmological sources contain information about gamma-ray interactions. Standard model and non-standard model photon interactions along the path between the source and the observer can lead to changes in the energy or state of the photons, which in turn alters the observed energy spectrum of the source. In general, these interactions are a function of photon energy as well as source distance. Here we show how existing high energy gamma-ray observations of blazars can be used to constrain the coupling of axion-like-particles (ALPs) to the photon. The same ALP-photon coupling that has been invoked to explain the observations of TeV blazars beyond their pair production horizon is shown to have a potential effect on the data set of Fermi blazars.
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 08/2014; 2014(08):021. DOI:10.1088/1475-7516/2014/08/021 · 5.81 Impact Factor
• Source
• "It is interesting to note that the photon-ALP mixing in magnetic fields of different astrophysical objects including active galaxies, clusters of galaxies, intergalactic space and the Milky Way, may be the cause of the remarkable phenomena like dimming of stars luminosity (e.g. supernovae in the extragalactic magnetic field [5] [6]) and " light shining through a wall " (e.g., light from very distant objects, traveling through the Universe [3] [7]). In the former case the luminosity of an astrophysical object is dimmed because some part of photons transforms into axions in the object's magnetic field. "
##### Article: Axion mechanism of Sun luminosity and TSI variations: light shining through the solar radiation zone
[Hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: It is shown that the hypothesis of the axion mechanism of Sun luminosity suggesting that the solar axion-like particles are born in the core of the Sun and may be efficiently converted back into $\gamma$-quanta in the magnetic field of the solar overshoot tachocline is physically relevant. As a result, it is also shown that the intensity variations of the $\gamma$-quanta of axion origin, induced by the magnetic field variations in the tachocline, directly cause the Sun luminosity and total solar irradiance (TSI) variations and eventually characterize the active and quiet states of the Sun. Within the framework of this mechanism estimations of the strength of the axion coupling to a photon ($g_{a \gamma} = 7.2 \cdot 10^{-11} GeV^{-1}$) and the axion-like particle mass ($m_a \sim 10^{-5} eV$) have been obtained. It is also shown that the claimed axion parameters do not contradict any known experimental and theoretical model-independent limitations.