Cosmic Axion Bose-Einstein Condensation

Abstract

QCD axions are a well-motivated candidate for cold dark matter. Cold axions are produced in the early universe by vacuum realignment, axion string decay and axion domain wall decay. We show that cold axions thermalize via their gravitational self-interactions, and form a Bose-Einstein condensate. As a result, axion dark matter behaves differently from the other proposed forms of dark matter. The differences are observable.

Comments: 14 pages. This is a chapter for a book entitled "Universal Themes of Bose-Einstein Condensation", to be published by Cambridge University Press, edited by David Snoke, Nikolaos Proukakis and Peter Littlewood. Affiliations and biblio info added, http://www.cambridge.org/9781107085695