Potential of SKA to Detect CDM ALPs with Radio Astronomy

Abstract

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are light pseudo-scalar particles predicted in many theoretically well-motivated extensions to the standard model of particle physics (SM). The search for cold dark matter (CDM) ALPs has gained tremendous ground over the last few years. Essentially ALPs are characterized by their coupling with two photons which allows ALPs to decay into two photons. In this work, we explore the potential of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) to detect CDM ALPs with radio astronomy in an attempt to detect an observational signature of ALPs conversion onto photons in astrophysical field.