Relativistic Axions from Collapsing Bose Stars

Phys Rev Lett. 2017 Jan 6;118(1):011301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.011301. Epub 2017 Jan 3.

Abstract

The substructures of light bosonic (axionlike) dark matter may condense into compact Bose stars. We study the collapse of critical-mass stars caused by attractive self-interaction of the axionlike particles and find that these processes proceed in an unexpected universal way. First, nonlinear self-similar evolution (called "wave collapse" in condensed matter physics) forces the particles to fall into the star center. Second, interactions in the dense center create an outgoing stream of mildly relativistic particles which carries away an essential part of the star mass. The collapse stops when the star remnant is no longer able to support the self-similar infall feeding the collisions. We shortly discuss possible astrophysical and cosmological implications of these phenomena.