Impact of Hadronic Axions on Black Hole Accretion Discs and Neutron Stars

Abstract

We re-examine the possibility of an astrophysically allowed KSVZ-type axion that has a strongly suppressed coupling to photons. We then investigate the impact of such ''hadronic axions'' on two classes of astrophysical objects: black hole accretion disc (BHAD) based gamma-ray bursts and isolated neutron-stars. Although our results are sensitive to details of the underlying models, we show that hadronic axions could in principle play an important role in the evolution of gamma-ray bursts and in the cooling behaviour of neutron stars.

Comments: Masters Thesis (TU Munich), 63 pp