Smoking gun signature from axion and the constraints with radio telescopes
Phys. Rev. D 112, 103035 – Published 18 November, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/g18s-2ffj
Abstract
Axions are an elegant solution to the strong problem for particle physics and a promising dark matter candidate. They can convert into photons under a strong magnetic field, while magnetars with extreme magnetic fields are natural labs for axion detection. Radio telescopes can detect the radio emission from axion-photon conversion near magnetars. In this study, we have refined the calculation of axion-photon conversion and developed the matched filtering integration method to largely improve the signal-to-noise ratio. We validate our method using end-to-end simulation and real observational data from Tian Ma radio telescope (TMRT). A new constraint is set with only 3596 seconds of observations with TMRT. Using ten hours of observation with the high-frequency receiver in Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope or square kilometre array, we can reach the theoretical coupling constant prediction for the axion mass range from to . We validate the possibility of axion detection with radio telescopes and avoid spectrum confusion.