Physics Letters B (Sep 2024)

Axion dark matter from heavy quarks

  • Mohammad Aghaie,
  • Giovanni Armando,
  • Angela Conaci,
  • Alessandro Dondarini,
  • Peter Maták,
  • Paolo Panci,
  • Zuzana Šinská,
  • Robert Ziegler

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 856
p. 138923

Abstract

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We propose simple scenarios where the observed dark matter abundance arises from decays and scatterings of heavy quarks through freeze-in of an axion-like particle with mass in the 10keV−1MeV range. These models can be tested by future X-ray telescopes, and in some cases will be almost entirely probed by searches for two-body decays K→π+invis. at NA62. As a byproduct, we discuss the cancellation of IR divergencies in flavor-violating scattering processes relevant for thermal axion production, and derive the general contribution to axion-photon couplings from all three light quarks.