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J ournal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
An IOP and SISSA journal

Decay of ALP condensates via

gravitation-induced resonance

JCAP11(2023)009
Robert Brandenberger,a Vahid Kamalia,b,c and Rudnei O. Ramosd,a
a Department of Physics, McGill University,
Montréal, QC, H3A 2T8, Canada
b Department of Physics, Bu-Ali Sina (Avicenna) University,

Hamedan 65178, 016016, Iran

c School of Physics, Insitute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM),

19538-33511, Tehran, Iran

d Departamento de Fisica Teorica, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro,

20550-013 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

E-mail: rhb@physics.mcgill.ca, vkamali@ipm.ir, rudnei@uerj.br

Received April 7, 2023

Revised September 20, 2023
Accepted October 12, 2023
Published November 6, 2023

Abstract. Oscillating scalar field condensates induce small amplitude oscillations of the Hub-
ble parameter which can induce a decay of the condensate due to a parametric resonance
instability [1]. We show that this instability can lead to the decay of the coherence of the con-
densate of axion-like particle (ALP) fields during the radiation phase of standard cosmology
for rather generic ALP parameter values, with possible implications for certain experiments
aiming to search for ALP candidates. As an example, we study the application of this insta-
bility to the QCD axion. We also study the magnitude of the induced entropy fluctuations.

Keywords: axions, dark matter theory

ArXiv ePrint: 2303.14800

c 2023 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing

Ltd on behalf of Sissa Medialab. Original content from
this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2023/11/009
maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work,
journal citation and DOI.
Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 The basic effect 2

3 Parametric instability of ALP condensates due to Hubble constant varia-

tions 4

JCAP11(2023)009
4 Decay of an axion condensate 6

5 Contribution of axion production to the entropy 9

6 Entropy fluctuations induced by ALP condensate decay 10

7 Discussion 11

1 Introduction

Axions and ALPs are amongst the well-motivated candidates for dark matter (see, e.g.,
refs. [2–5] for recent reviews of axions as dark matter, refs. [6–8] for the original articles on
axions as dark matter, and refs. [9, 10] for reviews of ALPs). It is often assumed that the
associated fields are misaligned relative to the minium of their zero temperature potential
in the early universe and then at some time begin to coherently oscillate about their ground
state values.1 For certain parameter ranges, these coherently oscillating ALP of axion fields
can provide an important contribution to Dark Matter (DM). As was pointed out recently
in ref. [1] (see also ref. [11] for some earlier related work), a coherently oscillating scalar field
condensate φ in the early universe will induce oscillations in the Hubble expansion parameter
superimposed on the overall decreasing expansion rate. In a similar way that a coherently
oscillating inflaton condensate will lead to a parametric resonance instability of the conden-
sate to the production of quanta of any field coupled to the inflaton [12, 13],2 in particular
to quanta of the inflaton field itself, the oscillations in the Hubble parameter induced by the
oscillations of the homogeneous condensate of φ will induce resonant production of φ quanta.
This instability can destroy the coherence of the φ condensate.
In this paper we study the application of this general effect to proposed dark matter
condensate fields, e.g., axions or ALPs, or more generally “wave dark matter”. We find
that in a wide range of parameter space of interest to DM model building, the instability is
effective and the coherence of the condensate is destroyed. While this effect does not change
the overall energy density of matter (the energy density of the condensate and of an assembly
of individual low momentum particle quanta both redshift as matter), coherence effects are
washed out. This may have implications for certain searches for wave DM candidates.
We are interested in condensates which are present in the radiation phase of standard
cosmology. We work in the context of a homogeneous, isotropic and spatially flat metric with
1
Our analysis applies to condensates which are oscillating coherently over the entire current Hubble radius.
Such condensates could have been set up during an early phase of cosmological inflation.
2
This effect is known as preheating. See also refs. [14–16] for other early works, and refs. [17, 18] for reviews.

–1–
scale factor a(t), where t is the physical time (with associated temperature T ). We will be
focusing on the radiation phase of Standard Big Bang cosmology when a(t) ∼ t1/2 . This phase
ends at the time teq of equal matter and radiation (with associated temperature Teq ∼ 1eV.
The expansion rate H(t) of space is related to the temperature via the Friedmann equation

H 2 ∼ T 4 m−2
pl , (1.1)

where mpl denotes the Planck mass. One notes that the mechanism described here is model-
independent and applies to any oscillating condensate field. The mechanism is also operative
in the absence of nonlinear interactions of φ quanta. The instability of axion condensates
in the presence of nonlinearities has been studied in ref. [19], and the analysis generalizes

JCAP11(2023)009
to ALPs, as mentioned in that same reference. In the presence of couplings of φ to other
fields, parametric resonance instabilities have been analyzed in various works. In particular,
in ref. [20], the standard coupling of the QCD axion to photons was supplemented with a
coupling to a dark photon, and the tachyonic instability (closely related to the parametric
resonance instability studied here) of the dark photon mode equation allowed an opening
up of the axion window (see also [21–30]). In [31] the decay of an ALP condensate into
photons has been analyzed. However, the resonance is model-dependent and was found to
be of “narrow resonance” type, and its effects hence are much reduced when the expansion of
space is taken into account. The instability which we find is, one the other hand, of “broad
resonance” type and hence robust towards taking the expansion of space into account.
In spirit, our work is related to that of ref. [32], where the transfer of energy from low
momentum modes to momenta of the order of the ALP mass was considered, in that case
triggered by the cosmological fluctuations set up in the primordial universe. There is also
related work on kinetic fragmentation of an ALP condensate [33, 34].
This work is organized as follows. In section 2, we first review the basic effect, following
the discussion in [1]. We next (section 3) apply the analysis to ALPs and show that, at least
in the class of models which we study, the coherence of the ALP condensate is destroyed. The
process is robust and can happen generically in the radiation dominated phase and prior to
the time of matter-radiation equality. In section 4, we then study in more detail the special
case of the QCD axion. We study the contribution of the produced axion fluctuations to the
entropy in section 5, and in section 6, we demonstrate that, although entropy fluctuations
on infrared scales are induced by our effect, they are too small to have an interesting effect
on the amplitude of the curvature fluctuations. Finally, in section 7, we conclude with a
discussion of the implications for experiments designed to search for ALPs and axions.
Throughout this paper, we work with the natural units, in which the speed of light,
Planck’s constant and Boltzmann’s constant are all set to 1, c = ~ = kB = 1.

2 The basic effect

We consider a scalar field φ with a potential V (φ) which is quadratic about its minimum

m2 2
V (φ) = φ . (2.1)
2
The equation of motion of a homogeneous condensate of φ in an expanding universe is

φ̈ + 3H φ̇ + m2 φ = 0 . (2.2)

–2–
It is convenient to consider the rescaled field ψ defined via

ψ ≡ a3/2 φ, (2.3)

whose equation of motion is

"  2 #
3 ȧ 3 ä
ψ̈ + m2 − − ψ = 0. (2.4)
4 a 2a

The condensate φ will be frozen by Hubble friction until the time to when H ∼ m. Thereafter,
it will oscillate with an amplitude A which scales like

JCAP11(2023)009
A2 ∝ T 3 . (2.5)

The rescaling of φ was done such that the amplitude A of ψ remains constant. We will
normalize the scale factor a(t) such that a(to ) = 1. This implies that A is the amplitude of
φ at the time to .
Let us consider some time td after the condensate has started to oscillate. For times
after to , the gravitational terms in eq. (2.4) can be neglected if we are interested in processes
that take place on a time scale shorter than the Hubble expansion time. Hence, we have that

ψ(t) = A cos[m(t − td )] . (2.6)

The oscillations of the condensate will (via the Friedmann equations) induce an oscillating
contribution to the scale factor, which is superimposed on the usual radiation phase scaling.
Following [1], we make the ansatz

a(t) = a0 (t) + b(t) , (2.7)

where a0 (t) is the usual radiation phase evolution of the scale factor, and b(t) is a perturbation
whose amplitude is obviously suppressed by the ratio of the energy density of the condensate
divided by the total energy density. As shown in [1], to leading order the solution for b(t) is
π
b(t) = Gm2 A2 (η − ηd )2
3
η − ηd 1m 2
 
+πGm2 A2 cos (η − ηd2 ) , (2.8)
m 2 td

where η (ηd ) is the conformal time associated with t (td ). Note that the parametric resonance
instability time scale which we find below is of the order m−1 . Hence, in spite of the fact that
the first term on the right hand side of the above equation scales as η 2 it does not overwhelm
the effects of the second term. This is confirmed by the numerical analysis in [1].
As pointed out in [1], the oscillations in a(t) can induce a gravitational parametric
resonance instability in all fields. In particular, it can excite inhomogeneous modes of φ.
If the resonance is effective, this process will destroy the coherence of φ. The equation of
motion for the Fourier modes ψk of ψ is
"  2 #
32 ȧ 3 ä k2
ψ̈k + m − − ψk + 2 ψk = 0 . (2.9)
4 a 2a a

–3–
Inserting eqs. (2.7) and (2.8) in eq. (2.9) and neglecting terms with time derivates of a0 (i.e.,
focusing on the oscillatory term), the mode equation (2.9) for infrared modes (modes with
k/a < m) becomes3
n o
ψ̈k + m2 − 12πGm3 A2 (t − td ) cos[2m(t − td )] ψk = 0. (2.10)

This is the equation of motion of a harmonic oscillator with an oscillating contribution to the
mass. Except for the fact that this contribution to the mass has an amplitude which grows in
time, this is the usual Mathieu equation [35, 36], which has a parametric resonance instability.
In [1] it was shown that this instability persists also when taking the time dependence of the
amplitude into account.4 An intuitive way to understand this result is the following: the time

JCAP11(2023)009
scale of the instability is (for the parameter range in which the instability is effective) short
compared to the Hubble time scale, the time scale on which the coefficient varies. Hence,
within the instability time scale the variation of the coefficient is negligible.
In terms of a new time variable z = mt, the mode equation (2.10) takes the form (where
in this equation the overdot stands for the derivative with respect to z)

ψ̈k + [1 − q cos(2z)] ψk = 0, (2.11)

with
q ∼ 12πGA2 mtd . (2.12)
The condition for the parametric resonance instability to be effective is q > 1, i.e.,
A 1
−1/2
>√ mtd . (2.13)
mpl 12π
Since A is constant, the parametric resonance condition can be satisfied at later times td
even if the condition is not satisfied when the condensate oscillations start.
If the decay condition (2.13) is satisfied, then all modes with kp < m (where kp is the
physical momentum) will undergo exponential amplification with

ψk ∼ eµ(t−td ) , (2.14)
√
with µ = qm. Note that the modes acquire a high occupation number.
The second efficiency condition is the requirement that the instability is rapid on the
Hubble time scale, i.e.,
µ
> 1. (2.15)
H

3 Parametric instability of ALP condensates due to Hubble constant vari-

ations

Let us now establish that the mechanism proposed in the previous section is generic during the
radiation dominated regime.5 Here we consider a coherently oscillating scalar field condensate
3
Since the particles which are being produced have kp < m (kp being the physical momentum), the
instability we are discussing will not change the fact that the time averaged equation of state of the φ field is
that of cold dark matter.
4
It would be of interest to provide a better analytical analysis of the solutions of eq. (2.10).
5
Note that in this section, for simplicity we drop order one constants which will not be relevant for our
main conclusions.

–4–
for a field φ of mass m and amplitude of oscillation A(t). The oscillations begin when the
Hubble damping in the equation of motion for φ becomes negligible. This happens when
H ∼ m. Recalling that we are considering the radiation phase of standard cosmology, the
Friedmann equation immediately yields

To ∼ (mmpl )1/2 , (3.1)

for the temperature To when the oscillations start. Equivalently,

!1/2 !1/2
To m mpl
∼ . (3.2)
Teq Teq Teq

JCAP11(2023)009
Next we want to determine at what temperature Td the parametric resonance instability sets
in. The condition was given in the previous section, by eq. (2.13). Note that the amplitude
A in that condition is the amplitude A of the oscillation of the condensate φ when the
oscillations set in.
Assuming that the amplitude of the oscillation of the condensate is chosen such that
the condensate can provide all of the DM, we have (from the Friedmann equation evaluated
at the time teq ),
A(teq )2 m2 ∼ Teq
4
. (3.3)
and, hence (using the scaling of A(t) discussed in the previous section),

A2 ∼ To3 Teq m−2 . (3.4)

Inserting this result into eq. (2.13), solving for td and expressing the result in terms of the
temperature Td (again making use of the Friedmann equation) yields
!1/4 !1/4
Td m mpl
' (12π)1/2 . (3.5)
Teq Teq Teq

Note that in the above equation we have expressed the ratios in terms of Teq since we want
to determine for which values of m the onset of the instability will be before the time of equal
matter and radiation.
Writing the condensate mass as m = m1 eV (i.e., in units of eV) and inserting the values
of Teq and mpl we obtain
To 1/2
∼ m1 1014 , (3.6)
Teq
and
Td 1/4
∼ m1 108 . (3.7)
Teq
The observational lower bound on the condensate mass is m1 > 10−20 . Inserting the value of
the lower bound into the two above equations, we see that for this value of m we have Teq <
Td < To , and the scaling with m1 immediately shows that for all allowed values of m1 we have

Teq < Td < To . (3.8)

We have thus seen that for the allowed parameter range of models considered here, ALP
condensates suffer the parametric resonance instability well during the radiation period of
standard cosmology. It is easy to verify that the efficiency condition (2.15) is also satisfied.

–5–
4 Decay of an axion condensate

In this section we consider a special case, namely the QCD axion. A key difference compared
to the previous analysis is that the potential for the condensate is not present at all times,
but sets in during a particular phase transition, namely the Peccei-Quinn symmetry [37]
breaking. Another difference compared to the analysis of the previous section is that we will
not assume that the axion makes up all of the DM, but we will study the potential instability
of the axion condensate more generally as a function of the axion parameters.
We will assume that the axion dark matter is produced through the misalignment mech-
anism, where there is a coherent initial displacement of the axion field. In this case, at early
times when the Hubble friction is large compared to the axion mass, H > m, the axion field is

JCAP11(2023)009
overdamped and is frozen at some initial value. Later, when H < m, the axion field becomes
underdamped and oscillations can begin. For small oscillations, we can approximate the ax-
ion potential as a quadratic potential. Thus, the equation of state oscillates around wφ = 0,
and the energy density scales as ρφ ∝ 1/a3 . This behavior is similar to that of ordinary
matter. This is why misalignment axions can then be considered as valid DM candidates.
The misalignment scenario for axion DM production is expected to happen in the radiation
dominated universe, between the TeV and the QCD scales, depending on the value of the
axion decay constant fa .
The axion equation of motion is (for amplitudes φ . fa ),

φ̈ + 3H φ̇ + m2φ φ = 0, (4.1)

where, for a radiation dominated universe,

8π π2
H2 = ρr , ρr = g∗ (T )T 4 , (4.2)
3m2Pl 30

where g∗ (T ) is the number of relativistic degrees of freedom (DoF) at the temperature T .

The axion mass is a function of the temperature [38]
√  n
 χ0 TQCD
fa T  , for T & TQCD
m(T ) =  (4.3)
 5.7 × 10−6 1012 GeV eV, for T . TQCD ,
fa

where χ0 ≈ (75.6MeV)4 , n ≈ 4.08 and TQCD ≈ 153MeV. The axion mass is approximately
constant below the QCD phase transition, and its value will be denoted by m.
Taking m(To ) = 3H(To ), we can determine the temperature when the axion condensate
starts to oscillate coherently. Using eqs. (4.2) and (4.3) (taking n = 4 in eq. (4.3) for
simplicity), we find
!1/6  1/12
1012 GeV 75
To ≈ 1GeV , (4.4)
fa g∗
where we have used g∗ ∼ 75 at around the GeV scale [39]. The number of relativistic DoF
g∗ is well known from temperatures about the electroweak scale down to today. In figure 1
we show the variation of g∗ as a function of the temperature.
For all T < To the axion zero mode will satisfy m > 3H and will be oscillating around
the minimum of its potential. Let us parametrize the initial amplitude of oscillation as

φ(To ) = ca fa , (4.5)

–6–
 80

60

40

g*
20

0.05 0.10 0.50 1 5

T[GeV]

Figure 1. The number of relativistic DoF g∗ as a function of the temperature. An interpolation of

JCAP11(2023)009
the data given in ref. [39] has been used.

where ca < 1 is a positive constant describing the fraction of the maximal amplitude. Using
the scaling of the oscillation amplitude as a function of temperature, we can then estimate
the contribution of the oscillating axion condensate to the dark matter density. A careful
analysis [2] yields
7/6
fa

2 −1 2
Ωa h ∼ 10 ca , (4.6)
1012 GeV
where Ωa is the fractional contribution of axions to the total energy density, and h is the
value of the current Hubble constant in units of 100kms−1 Mpc−1 . The allowed parameter
space for the axion is then determined by the range of values of ca and fa for which Ωa ≤ Ωm ,
where Ωm is the total fractional contribution of matter to the energy density budget of the
current universe.
From the results of section 2 of this paper, we know that the oscillations of the scale
factor that the oscillating condensate induces lead to parametric resonance growth of long
wavelength axion fluctuations. The resonance is efficient if
q = 12πGA2 mt  1 . (4.7)
Recall that A is independent of time. Hence, the instability condition is easier to satisfy the
later we look. Inserting the expression for the axion mass (4.3), making use of the Friedmann
equation to express t in terms of the temperature, and normalizing by Teq yields the efficiency
condition on the temperature when the resonance can effectively set in,
1/2
T fa

< 105 12
. (4.8)
Teq 10 GeV
Thus, we see that for the range 108 GeV < fa < 1012 GeV of the axion decay constant which
is usually considered, the axion condensate will be unstable towards the resonance effect
considered here.
The axion fluctuations grow exponentially in time t with the rate
A
µ ∼ (12π)1/2 (mt)1/2 m , (4.9)
mpl
where A is the initial amplitude of oscillation of the condensate. We must also check that
the instability is efficient on the time scale of the expansion of space, i.e.,
µ
 1. (4.10)
H

–7–
Expressing H and t in terms of the temperature T , using the Friedmann equation and
normalizing quantities by Teq , we obtain
!1/2  3
µ 1012 GeV Teq
(T ) ∼ 1027 ca . (4.11)
H fa T

From the above we conclude that the axion condensate is rather generically unstable to the
parametric instability which we are discussing here.
We can now estimate the production of axion quanta due to the coherent oscillation of
the condensate around the minimum of the potential. Since it is infrared modes with k ≤ m

JCAP11(2023)009
which are excited, the energy density in produced quanta can be estimated to be (see also [1])
Z m
ρprod ∼ 4π dk k 4 k −1 e2µ(t−t0 )
0
π 4 2µ(t−t0 )
≈ m e , (4.12)
2
where in the first line we have assumed that the modes begin in their quantum vacuum state
(this gives the k −1 factor, while two powers of k come from the phase space volume, the other
two powers come from the k 2 in the energy of an individual mode).
The resonant particle production is expected to stop when its backreaction becomes
significant, i.e., when the produced energy density eq. (4.12) approaches that of the oscillating
scalar field,
1
ρφ ∼ m2 φ2 , (4.13)
2
which gives for the time interval τ over which this particle production mechanism is effective
1 A
 
τ ≈ ln . (4.14)
µ m
Although the argument inside the logarithm in the above equation is large,
2
A fa

∼ 1026 ca , (4.15)
m 1012 GeV
which is found by using A = ca fa and inserting the expression for the mass from (4.3), its
logarithm is of the order 102 . Hence, as long as µ > 102 H, the time scale of backreaction is
smaller than the Hubble scale (which is a condition for our analysis to be self-consistent).
Let us now take a slightly closer look at the efficiency condition for the resonance,
namely that the resonance time scale must be smaller than the Hubble time. Since the ratio
Γ of particle production is determined by the coefficient µ in eq. (4.12), or more precisely,
Γ = 2µ, the process will be efficient if Γ > H.
Recalling again that the window bounds on the axion decay constant is typically
10 GeV . fa . 1012 GeV. For these values of fa , from eq. (4.4), then the value for To
8

where the axion starts oscillating is typically To ∼ 1 GeV. Note that for T > TQCD , the
axion mass is determined by the temperature dependent expression in eq. (4.3). Then, in the
interval TQCD . T . 1GeV, we find that
!1  1  6
−3 1012 GeV 2
70 2 1GeV
Γ/H ' 2 × 10 , (4.16)
fa g∗ (T ) T

–8–
 14

13

12

log10(fa[GeV])
11

10

JCAP11(2023)009
8
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
T[GeV]

Figure 2. The region of parameters for which Γ/H > 1 (blue) and for when the axion starts oscillating
(green).

while for temperatures below the QCD scale, the mass of the axion is determined by its zero
temperature term in eq. (4.3). The ratio Γ/H then now becomes, for T . TQCD ,
!1  1  2
1012 GeV 2
17 2 153MeV
Γ/H ' 3.6 . (4.17)
fa g∗ (T ) T

Note again that axion production gets more and more efficient as the temperature decreases.
From the data given in figure 1 and using eqs. (4.16) and (4.17), we show in figure 2 the
region of parameters in terms of the temperature and axion decay constant where Γ/H > 1
is satisfied. Taking for instance the temperature T = 100 MeV, for which g∗ ' 17.7, and for
fa = 1010 GeV, we obtain that Γ/H ' 8.2 × 103 .

5 Contribution of axion production to the entropy

In this section we estimate the abundance and entropy of axion DM particles produced via our
instability mechanism and compare the result to the entropy of the thermal bath. The abun-
dance is defined by the ratio of the number density of created particles by the entropy density,
nφ
Yφ = . (5.1)
s
The entropy density of the thermal bath is

2π 2
sthermal (T ) = gs,∗ (T )T 3 , (5.2)
45
where gs,∗ (T ) is the number of relativistic DoF for the entropy at the temperature T .
The increase of entropy density for the axion dark matter particles can be estimated as

d3 k
Z
sprod (t) = sk (t), (5.3)
(2π)3

–9–
where sk (t) is the entropy per mode, which can be defined by the von Neumann entropy,

sk (t) = [f (k, t) + 1] ln [f (k, t) + 1] − f (k, t) ln f (k, t). (5.4)

with f (k, t) being the occupation number.

For the resonant particle production, we can estimate the occupation number as

f (k, t) ∼ e2µ(t−td ) . (5.5)

For f (k, t)  1,
d3 k 4πm3 2µ(t − td )
Z

JCAP11(2023)009
sprod (t) ∼ ln [f (k, t)] ∼ . (5.6)
(2π)3 3 (2π)3
From eqs. (4.14), (4.15) and (5.2), we can estimate the ratio
 
fa2
30 ln πm2φ
m3φ
sprod
∼ . (5.7)
sthermal πT 3 gs (T )

For typical values of parameters (for a QCD axion), we have sprod  sthermal .
It is useful to estimate the ratio (5.7) at the time when the axion starts oscillating,
m = 3H. This gives a minimum value for the produced entropy (recalling that particle
production will occur for some T < Tosc , see figure 2),
! !3/2
sprod 2 fa2 mφ
& 10 ln . (5.8)
sthermal T =Tosc πm2φ mpl

where we have considered gs ∼ g∗ .

6 Entropy fluctuations induced by ALP condensate decay

It is well known that axion fluctuations can induce primordial entropy fluctuations [40, 41]. A
similar effect also arises for ALP fluctuations. While it is known that there is no parametric
instability of adiabatic fluctuations on super-Hubble scales (e.g., induced by the oscillation
of the inflaton field at the onset of reheating (see e.g. [42]), it is possible to have amplifica-
tion of super-Hubble entropy modes (see, e.g., [43]). The oscillations of the ALP or axion
condensates which we have studied in this paper induce fluctuations in a sub-dominant mat-
ter component, i.e., entropy fluctuations. In this section, we estimate the magnitude of the
entropy fluctuations induced by the ALP condensate decay process which we have studied,
and compute the induced corrections to the amplitude of the curvature fluctuations. Since
our process produces high occupation states for infrared modes, one could worry that the
induced curvature fluctuations are too large.
It is well known that entropy fluctuations induce growing curvature fluctuations (see,
e.g., [44, 45] for reviews of the theory of cosmological fluctuations). Specifically, a non-
adiabatic pressure fluctuation δPnab will induce a growth of the usual curvature fluctuation
variable ζ via the equation (see [46])

H
ζ̇k = − δPnab,k , (6.1)
p+ρ

– 10 –
where the subscript k indicates the comoving momentum mode which we are considering,
and p and ρ are background pressure and energy density, respectively.
In our case, the background is the radiation fluid, and the perturbation is given by the
ALP field φ. In this case,6 the non-adiabatic pressure fluctuation is [46]

δpk δρk
 
δPnab,k = ṗ − , (6.2)
ṗ ρ̇

where the fluctuation terms are the φ pressure and energy density fluctuations, and the
background terms are from the radiation background. Since φ is approximately pressureless,
we obtain

JCAP11(2023)009
1
δPnab,k ' − δρk , (6.3)
3
and hence,
1H
ζ̇k ' δρk . (6.4)
4 ρ
To estimate the magnitude of the induced curvature fluctuations we can integrate this equa-
tion from the time td , when the instability sets in (see section 3) until the time td + τ when
back-reaction shuts off the instability. Since the exponential increase in δρ is rapid and
terminates on a Hubble time scale, we can approximate ζk as

1 td +τ 1
Z
ζk ' dt δρk (t)
8 td ρ(t)t
Z td +τ
1
∼ ρ(td ) dt δρk (td )e2µt
8td td
1 δρk (td + τ )
∼ . (6.5)
16µtd ρ(td )

We see from the above equation that the result is suppressed by two important factors: first
the ratio of H to µ, and secondly the ratio of the density in ALPs to the total radiation density.
The power spectrum Pζ (k) of the induced curvature fluctuations on a scale k is, hence,
given by the power spectrum of the ALP density fluctuations on that scale, which is obtained
by integrating ρφ from k = 0 to k (see eq. 5.8). The result is

1 H(td ) k 4 ρφ
Pζ (k) ∼ (td ) . (6.6)
8 µ m4 ρ

On the far infrared scales relevant to cosmological observations, the induced power spectrum
of curvature fluctuations is, thus, suppressed by an additional factor of (k/m)4 . Hence, we
conclude that our mechanism does not lead to a dangerous amplitude of entropy fluctuations.

7 Discussion

We have suggested that axion and ALP condensates in the radiation phase of Standard Big
Bang cosmology are unstable to a model-independent parametric resonance instability, which
is triggered by the contribution of a periodic variation of the effective mass of the axion or ALP
mode functions. This effect comes as a result of the periodic variation of the Hubble constant
6
See also [47] for a more recent application.

– 11 –
due to the oscillation of the condensate. We have indicated that the instability is of the “broad
resonance” type and, hence, robust taking the expansion of space into account. Our analysis
applies to situations when the condensate is oscillating coherently on the Hubble scale.
Our effect will destroy the temporal oscillations of axion and ALP fields coherent over
all space. However, the modes which are excited all have momenta smaller than the axion
or ALP mass m, are highly excited and hence can be viewed as classical states (see e.g. [48])
which are oscillating on a time scale of m−1 or larger. Many existing and planned experiments
for ALP detection search for signals involving periodic variations on a time scale of m−1 (see,
e.g., ref. [49] for a recent overview). These should not be effected by the instability of the
global condensate. Experiments which, on the other hand, search for oscillatory signals which
are coherent over large spatial scales, may need to be reconsidered.7

JCAP11(2023)009
In the case of the QCD axion, the effect does not appear to have any implications for
standard axion detection experiments that look for interactions of individual axion quanta
with photons. The loss of coherence will, however, impact the suggested signatures [50] of
axion DM on galactic scales.

Acknowledgments

RB wishes to thank the Pauli Center and the Institutes of Theoretical Physics and of Particle-
and Astrophysics of the ETH for hospitality. The research of RB at McGill is supported
in part by funds from NSERC and from the Canada Research Chair program. We wish
to thank Katelin Schutz, Nick Rodd and Marco Simonovic for useful discussions. V.K.
would like to acknowledge the McGill University Physics Department for hospitality and
partial financial support. R.O.R. would like to thank the hospitality of the Department of
Physics McGill University. R.O.R. also acknowledges financial support of the Coordenação de
Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) — Finance Code 001 and by research
grants from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Grant
No. 307286/2021-5, and from Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do
Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Grant No. E-26/201.150/2021.

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