Global View of Axion Stars with (Nearly) Planck-Scale Decay Constants

Abstract

We show that axion stars formed from axions with nearly Planck-scale decay constants $f$ are unstable to decay, and are unlikely to have phenomenological consequences. More generally, we show how results at smaller $f$ cannot be naively extrapolated to $f=\mathcal{O}(M_P)$ as, contrary to conventional wisdom, gravity and special relativity can both become relevant in the same regime. We clarify the rate of decay by reviewing and extending previous work on oscillons and axion stars, which imply a fast decay rate even for so-called dilute states at large $f$.

Comments: 15 pages, 8 figures, 2 appendices. References added; updated to match published PRD version