{
  "abstract": "Axion stars are self-gravitating Bose--Einstein condensates of QCD axions or axion-like particles. Their stability determines whether they can survive as dark-matter structures and what astrophysical signatures they may produce. Here we combine a non-relativistic Schrödinger--Poisson description with catastrophe theory to develop a unified picture of axion-star stability. Beginning with the Einstein--Klein--Gordon system for a periodic axion potential, we derive the effective equations of motion and conserved quantities and construct a one-parameter family of star-like solutions. A Gaussian variational ansatz reduces the problem to an analytic energy functional $E(R;N)$. Within this model, equilibria appear and disappear through Arnold $A_2$, $A_3$, and $A_4$ catastrophes as the particle number $N$ and interaction strengths vary. A repulsive sextic interaction produces two stable branches---dilute and dense axion stars---separated by an unstable branch. The same catastrophe criteria apply beyond the sextic truncation: for the full cosine and QCD-corrected potentials, the fold conditions follow from the complete variational energy and can be evaluated numerically. We also separate stability within the collective-coordinate ansatz from full radial perturbative stability and specify the range in which the non-relativistic treatment is reliable. This framework provides a compact classification of axion-star phases and identifies model-dependent critical masses associated with collapse, bosenova-like emission, and black-hole formation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Journal reference: Kusmartsev, Fedor V., Joudy JF Beek, and Jack CM Hughes. \"Catastrophe structure and stability of axion stars.\" Physical Review D 114, no. 8 (2026): 083032",
  "arxiv": "2610.33549",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Fedor V Kusmartsev"
    },
    {
      "name": "Joudy J F Beek"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jack C M Hughes"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/573fpkk55vvjp.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.33549",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "573fpkk55vvjp",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33549",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "licence_label": "CC0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.CO"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.GA"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "gr-qc"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223876894",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.33549",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-24",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/573fpkk55vvjp.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:35:35Z",
      "native_id": "2610.33549",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33549"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.CO",
      "subfield": "cosmology"
    },
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.GA",
      "subfield": "galaxies"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:gr-qc",
      "subfield": "gravitation"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-ph",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Catastrophe Structure and Stability of Axion Stars",
  "title_text": "Catastrophe Structure and Stability of Axion Stars",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:35:35Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/573fpkk55vvjp",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}