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arXiv · 2607.12025

How invisible can QCD axions be? From Supernova emission to Cherenkov signals

Luca Di Luzio·Vincenzo Fiorentino·Maurizio Giannotti·Alessandro Lella·Federico Mescia
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Abstract

We investigate the scenario of maximally invisible axions, namely QCD axions whose interactions with matter arise exclusively from the irreducible coupling to gluons responsible for solving the strong-CP problem. We first analyze the production of such axions in core-collapse supernovae. In particular, we derive the corresponding SN 1987A cooling constraint and compute the emission spectra for the dominant production channels, namely nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung and pion conversion. We then investigate the prospects for detecting maximally invisible axions in Cherenkov detectors, with the goal of establishing a robust lower bound on the overall detectability of QCD axions.

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Luca Di Luzio, Vincenzo Fiorentino, Maurizio Giannotti, Alessandro Lella, Federico Mescia. 2026-07-13. How invisible can QCD axions be? From Supernova emission to Cherenkov signals. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.12025

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