English

Axion Fragmentation

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2021-11-24 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We investigate the production of axion quanta during the early universe evolution of an axion-like field rolling down a wiggly potential. We compute the growth of quantum fluctuations and their back-reaction on the homogeneous zero-mode. We evaluate the transfer of kinetic energy from the zero mode to the quantum fluctuations and the conditions to decelerate the axion zero-mode as a function of the Hubble rate, the slope of the potential, the size of the barriers and the initial field velocity. We discuss how these effects impact the relaxion mechanism.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1911.08472,
  title  = {Axion Fragmentation},
  author = {Nayara Fonseca and Enrico Morgante and Ryosuke Sato and Géraldine Servant},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1911.08472},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

29 pages and 17 figures in main text, 24 pages and 7 figures in appendices, v2: published version

R2 v1 2026-06-23T12:21:08.748Z