Reflection polarization of close binaries as a probe of axion dark matter birefringence

Abstract

We propose close binary polarimetry as a probe of birefringence induced by ultralight axion dark matter. In a close binary, reflection or scattering can generate a small linear polarization whose time dependence is locked to the orbital phase. This phase-locked polarization provides a template against which an oscillatory rotation of the polarization angle induced by the axion can be searched for. We show that axion birefringence appears as sidebands around the orbital harmonics. For a single bright binary, with parameters motivated by observed systems and current high-precision optical polarimetry, we estimate the sensitivity to the axion-photon coupling under white noise assumption to be the level of $10^{-12}$ GeV$^{-1}$ at an axion mass of $10^{-20}$ eV. A future array of suitable binaries could further improve the sensitivity to $10^{-13}$ GeV$^{-1}$ in an optimistic scenario. This method could provide a complementary high-cadence optical probe of axion birefringence, compared to existing astrophysical searches.