Spectroscopic Constraints on (pseudo-)Scalar Particles from Compact Astrophysical Objects

Abstract

We propose a new method to search for light (pseudo-)scalar particles in the spectra of compact astrophysical objects such as magnetars, pulsars, and quasars. On accounts of compact astrophysical objects having intense magnetic fields extending over large volumes, they provide good conditions for efficient photon-particle oscillations via the Primakoff process. In particular, we show that if the coupling constant for light (<1e-2 eV) axions, g>1e-13 [1/GeV] then it is likely that absorption-like features would be detectable in the spectrum of compact astrophysical sources.