Constraining axionlike particle mediated dark matter with observational constraints: A statistical and machine learning approach
Phys. Rev. D 113, 023001 – Published 2 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/j3mm-zjsv
Abstract
We present a comprehensive investigation into the phenomenological consequences of axionlike particle (ALP) mediated dark matter (DM) on the structure of neutron stars (NSs). Our analysis is grounded in a well-established relativistic mean-field framework, featuring nonlinear mesonic self-interactions constrained by nuclear physics data and modern astrophysical observations. We systematically explore the DM parameter space, spanning DM particle masses and DM fermi momenta , by generating a vast ensemble of over 30,000 equations of state (EoSs). This analysis is carried out using two representative hadronic EoSs, a stiff one (EoS1) and a soft one (EoS18), with the explicit inclusion of the crustal EoS to properly account for the low-density regime of NSs. Employing a multitiered statistical filtering scheme, combining voting, likelihood, and kernel density estimation scores, we apply stringent constraints from a suite of multimessenger observations, including radio and x-ray pulsars, GW170817, and low-mass compact object HESS J1731-347, revealing that models satisfying the PSR J0614-3329 radius bound inherently comply with the HESS constraints, positioning ALP-mediated DM as a viable candidate for explaining low-mass compact objects while still supporting NSs. For the stiff EoS, we obtain a lower bound of , with score-weighted posteriors favoring and a broad allowed DM mass range (median ). In contrast, the soft EoS yields no strict lower bound on , although scenarios with simultaneously large and are strongly disfavored. We developed a high-precision supervised interpolation model using AutoGluon to infer DM parameters from reconstructed NS mass-radius curves, achieving . Feature-importance analysis indicates that the DM mass is mainly constrained by global shape indicators such as the radius ratio , whereas the Fermi momentum is primarily determined by the tidal deformability .