arXiv subjects

Orion Ning

Publications and source records attributed to Orion Ning.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

No Evidence for Superradiant Axions in LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA GWTC-5 Binary Black Hole Spins

The quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion and axion-like particles may form bound clouds around spinning black holes (BHs) when their Compton wavelength is comparable to the BH gravitational radius, depleting the BH spin through what is known as a $\textit{superradiance}$ instability. Using binary BH (BBH) spin measurements obtained from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA GWTC-5 catalog, the most extensive public BBH catalog to date containing $N=257$ mergers with BH masses spanning roughly $5$-$135$ $M_\odot$, we perform a hierarchical Bayesian analysis in the context of a BH spin population model to constrain ultralight axions. The presence of axions at a given mass would imprint a unique signature in the observed mass-spin relation relative to the formation distribution. We find no evidence for axions across more than two decades in mass, excluding axion masses $1.7 \times 10^{-14} \, {\rm eV} \lesssim m_a \lesssim 3.3 \times 10^{-12} \, {\rm eV}$ at 95% confidence. Because prior superradiance bounds in this range derive from X-ray spin measurements with substantial modeling systematics, this result represents one of the strongest robust lower bounds on the QCD axion mass.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Crowdsourcing Gravitational Waves from Superradiant Axions

Black hole superradiance is a powerful probe of ultralight axions. If nature contains a boson with a mass of order $10^{-12}\,$eV, $\textit{mere vacuum fluctuations}$ will lead to its efficient production around spinning stellar mass black holes, forming a gravitational atom that both drains the black hole spin and decays to produce near-monochromatic gravitational waves. Existing superradiance constraints derive primarily from spin measurements of a handful of identified black holes. Here we instead present a detailed study of the population level effect: gravitational waves arising from both the 100 million black holes in the Milky Way and the stochastic signal from axion clouds throughout the universe. We study the impact of a broad range of systematic uncertainties on the black hole properties and compute the projected axion sensitivity for LIGO, as well as the future instruments Einstein Telescope, Cosmic Explorer, and a high-frequency Magnetic Weber Bar. We demonstrate that LIGO can robustly probe axion masses from roughly $10^{-13}\,$eV to $4 \times 10^{-12}\,$eV. If the black hole population extends to masses slightly below $5\,M_{\odot}$ - as hinted for by LIGO inspiral observations - LIGO would approach $10^{-11}\,$eV. Under that same assumption we show that a future high-frequency detector could push considerably higher, potentially beyond $10^{-10}\,$eV in the most optimistic scenarios, reaching towards the lowest masses within the projected sensitivity of axion dark matter searches.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Blazar Constraints on Axions through New Spectral Modulation Searches in 1ES 1959+650 & B2 1811+31

Blazars are unique astrophysical environments whose high-energy $\gamma$-ray spectra are susceptible to modulations in the presence of ultralight axions. We search for these modulations, induced by axion-photon mixing, in Fermi-LAT spectral data of previously unexplored blazar targets, focusing in particular on blazars 1ES 1959+650 and B2 1811+31, whose flare states provide a clean testbed for axion activity. In both cases, we find no evidence for axions, and set exclusion regions on the axion-photon coupling for masses between $10^{-9}$ eV $\lesssim$ $m_a$ $\lesssim$ $10^{-8}$ eV, with sensitivities typically reaching $g_{a \gamma \gamma} \sim 10^{-11} - 10^{-10}$ GeV$^{-1}$ depending on the assumed blazar modeling choices. We examine the broad impact of modeling uncertainties, finding that the resulting constraints can vary substantially across plausible configurations. We discuss the implications of these systematic effects and their relevance for similar blazar-like searches in the future.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Cosmological Neutron Stars Produce Diffuse Axion X-Ray Signatures

Axion-like particles can be abundantly produced through scattering processes in the cores of neutron stars (NSs). If they are ultralight ($m_a \lesssim 10^{-4}$ eV), then they can efficiently convert to detectable photons in the external NS magnetospheres, and if they are heavy ($m_a \gtrsim 1$ eV), then they can decay into photons before reaching Earth. In this work, we search for the resulting X-ray signatures from both of these channels summing over the $\textit{cosmological}$ NS population. We compare the predicted axion-induced X-ray signal to the cosmic X-ray background today as measured by a number of instruments such as NuSTAR, HEAO, Swift, and INTEGRAL. We model the axion-induced signal using NS cooling simulations and magnetic field evolution models. We find no evidence for axions and derive strong constraints for both ultralight and heavy axion scenarios, covering new parameter space for the axion-photon and axion-nucleon couplings. Our results rule out the axion-explanation of the Magnificent Seven X-ray excess from nearby isolated NSs.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Axion lines from nuclear de-excitations in galactic stellar populations

We show that mono-energetic axions are produced in abundance through nuclear de-excitations in nearby galaxies such as M87, which is the central galaxy of the Virgo cluster, and the starburst galaxy M82. If the axion couples to both nucleons and photons and is ultralight, then monochromatic hard X-ray signatures are induced by the subsequent axion-to-photon conversion in the magnetic fields permeating these systems. We search for evidence of such signals using NuSTAR data, focusing specifically on the $^{57}$Fe de-excitation line at 14.4 keV, and we catalog other potentially relevant nuclear lines. We find no evidence for axions from M87 or M82 and set leading constraints on the combined axion-nucleon and axion-photon coupling at the level of $|g_{ann} \times g_{a\gamma \gamma}| \lesssim 1.1 \times 10^{-22}$ GeV$^{-1}$ in the limit $m_a \lesssim 10^{-10}$ eV, at 95% confidence.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Probing the Axion-Electron Coupling with NuSTAR Observations of Galaxies

We search for the existence of ultralight axions coupling to electrons and photons using data from the NuSTAR telescope directed toward the galaxies M82, M87, and M31. We focus on electron bremsstrahlung and Compton scattering for axion production in stars, summing over the stellar populations found in the target galaxies when computing the axion luminosity. We then compute the hard X-ray signal that arises from the conversion of these axions to photons in each galaxy's magnetic fields, inferred from analog galaxies in cosmological magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Analyzing NuSTAR data toward these galaxies between roughly 20 to 70 keV, we find no evidence for axions and set leading constraints on the combined axion-electron and axion-photon coupling at the level of $|g_{aee} \times g_{a \gamma \gamma}| \lesssim 8.3 \times 10^{-27}$ GeV$^{-1}$ for $m_a \lesssim 10^{-10}$ eV at 95% confidence, with M82 providing the most stringent constraints.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Search for Axions from Magnetic White Dwarfs with Chandra

Low mass axion-like particles could be produced in abundance within the cores of hot, compact magnetic white dwarf (MWD) stars from electron bremsstrahlung and converted to detectable X-rays in the strong magnetic fields surrounding these systems. In this work, we constrain the existence of such axions from two dedicated Chandra X-ray observations of $\sim$40 ks each in the energy range $\sim$1 - 10 keV towards the magnetic white dwarfs (MWDs) WD 1859+148 and PG 0945+246. We find no evidence for axions, which constrains the axion-electron times axion-photon coupling to $|g_{a\gamma \gamma} g_{aee}| \lesssim 1.54 \times 10^{-25}$ ($3.54 \times 10^{-25}$) GeV$^{-1}$ for PG 0945+246 (WD 1859+148) at 95% confidence for axion masses $m_a \lesssim 10^{-6}$ eV. We find an excess of low-energy X-rays between 1 - 3 keV for WD 1859+148 but determine that the spectral morphology is too soft to arise from axions; instead, the soft X-rays may arise from non-thermal emission in the MWD magnetosphere.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Leading Axion-Photon Sensitivity with NuSTAR Observations of M82 and M87

We perform the most sensitive search to-date for the existence of ultralight axions using data from the NuSTAR telescope. We search for stellar axion production in the M82 starburst galaxy and the M87 central galaxy of the Virgo cluster and then the subsequent conversion into hard X-rays in the surrounding magnetic fields. We sum over the full stellar populations in these galaxies when computing the axion luminosity, and we account for the conversion of axions to photons by using magnetic field profiles in simulated IllustrisTNG analogue galaxies. We show that analyzing NuSTAR data towards these targets between roughly 30 to 70 keV shows no evidence for axions and leads to robust constraints on the axion-photon coupling at the level of $|g_{a\gamma\gamma}| \lesssim 6.4 \times 10^{-13}$ GeV$^{-1}$ for $m_a \lesssim 10^{-10}$ eV at 95% confidence.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Limits from the grave: resurrecting Hitomi for decaying dark matter and forecasting leading sensitivity for XRISM

The Hitomi X-ray satellite mission carried unique high-resolution spectrometers that were set to revolutionize the search for sterile neutrino dark matter (DM) by looking for narrow X-ray lines arising from DM decays. Unfortunately, the satellite was lost shortly after launch, and to-date the only analysis using Hitomi for DM decay used data taken towards the Perseus cluster. In this work we present a significantly more sensitive search from an analysis of archival Hitomi data towards blank sky locations, searching for DM decaying in our own Milky Way. The soon-to-be-launched XRISM satellite will have nearly identical soft-X-ray spectral capabilities to Hitomi; we project the full-mission sensitivity of XRISM for analyses of their future blank-sky data, and we find that XRISM will have the leading sensitivity to decaying DM for masses between roughly 1 to 20 keV, with important implications for sterile neutrino and heavy axion-like particle DM scenarios.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Current constraints on deviations from General Relativity using binning in redshift and scale

We constrain deviations from general relativity (GR) including both redshift and scale dependencies in the modified gravity (MG) parameters. In particular, we employ the under-used binning approach and compare the results to functional forms. We use available datasets such as Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from Planck 2018, Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and Redshift Space Distortions (BAO/RSD) from the BOSS DR12, the 6DF Galaxy Survey, the SDSS DR7 Main Galaxy Sample, the correlation of Lyman-$\alpha$ forest absorption and quasars from SDSS-DR14, Supernova Type Ia (SNe) from the Pantheon compilation, and DES Y1 data. Moreover, in order to maximize the constraining power from available datasets, we analyze MG models where we alternatively set some of the MG parameters to their GR values and vary the others. Using functional forms, we find an up to 3.5-$\sigma$ tension with GR in $\Sigma$ (while $\mu$ is fixed) when using Planck+SNe+BAO+RSD; this goes away when lensing data is included, i.e. CMB lensing and DES (CMBL+DES). Using different binning methods, we find that a tension with GR above 2-$\sigma$ in the (high-z, high-k) bin is persistent even when including CMBL+DES to Planck+SNe+BAO+RSD. Also, we find another tension above 2-$\sigma$ in the (low-z, high-k) bin, but that can be reduced with the addition of lensing data. Furthermore, we perform a model comparison using the Deviance Information Criterion statistical tool and find that the MG model ($\mu=1$, $\Sigma$) is weakly favored by the data compared to $\Lambda$CDM, except when DES data is included. Another noteworthy result is that we find that the binning methods do not agree with the widely-used functional parameterization where the MG parameters are proportional to $\Omega_{\text{DE}}(a)$, and this is clearly apparent in the high-z and high-k regime where this parameterization underestimates the deviations from GR.

astro-ph.CO↗