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Gamma-ray production in cosmic ray-dark matter scattering as a probe of the axionlike particle-proton interaction

Victor P. Goncalves1,*, Emmanuel Moulin2,†, Igor Reis3,2,‡, and Aion Viana3,§

  • *Contact author: barros@ufpel.edu.br
  • †Contact author: emmanuel.moulin@cea.fr
  • ‡Contact author: igorreis@ifsc.usp.br, igor.reis@cea.fr
  • §Contact author: aion.viana@ifsc.usp.br
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 123054 – Published 22 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dsj6-zsdv

Abstract

The production of very-high-energy (VHE, Eγ≳100  GeV) gamma rays resulting from the scattering of high-energy cosmic-ray protons off axionlike particles (ALPs) populating the dark matter halo of the Milky Way is investigated. By employing the latest instrument response functions for current and future facilities, we demonstrate that ground-based VHE gamma-ray observatories, such as H.E.S.S., CTAO, and SWGO, provide a promising and complementary avenue to probe the yet uncharted ALP-proton coupling gap. Assuming a pointlike proton, our results show that these experiments can reach sensitivity to couplings above 10−2 in the 1−108  eV ALP mass range, a region that remains largely unexplored by supernova and neutron star cooling observations. Interestingly, we demonstrate that this search channel is capable of probing effective ALP-proton couplings comparable to those predicted in benchmark quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion scenarios, such as the Kim-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov (KSVZ) and Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky (DFSZ) models. These findings highlight the potential of VHE gamma-ray astronomy to provide unique constraints on the interaction between ALPs and the baryonic sector and motivate the investigation of the impact of the proton structure on the predictions.

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 113, 123054– Published 22 June, 2026
  • Received 11 March 2026
  • Accepted 2 June 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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