Search for Spectral Irregularities due to Photon-Axionlike-Particle Oscillations With the Fermi Large Area Telescope

Abstract

We report on the search for spectral irregularities induced by oscillations between photons and axionlike-particles (ALPs) in the $\gamma$-ray spectrum of NGC 1275, the central galaxy of the Perseus cluster. Using six years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data, we find no evidence for ALPs and exclude couplings above $5\times 10^{-12}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-1}$ for ALP masses $0.5\lesssim m_a\lesssim 5$ neV at 95% confidence. The limits are competitive with the sensitivity of planned laboratory experiments, and, together with other bounds, strongly constrain the possibility that ALPs can reduce the $\gamma$-ray opacity of the Universe.

Comments: Accepted by PRL. Includes Supplemental Material. 8+10 pages, 2+7 figures, 1+2 tables. References updated. Matches published version. Corresponding Authors: Manuel Meyer, Jan Conrad, Miguel Sanchez-Conde