Fast radio bursts from axion stars moving through pulsar magnetospheres

Abstract

We study the radio signals generated when an axion star enters the magnetosphere of a neutron star. As the axion star moves through the resonant region where the plasma-induced photon mass becomes equal to the axion mass, the axions can efficiently convert into photons, giving rise to an intense, transient radio signal. We show that a dense axion star with a mass $\sim 10^{-13}{M}_{\odot }$ composed of $\sim 10\mu$eV axions can account for most of the mysterious fast radio bursts.

Comments: Published version in Phys. Rev. D, 6 pages, 2 figures