Related papers: Axiology
Axions as dark matter is an increasingly important subject in astrophysics and cosmology. Experimental and observational searches are mounting across the mass spectrum of axion-like particles, many of which require detailed knowledge of…
We discuss some cosmological aspects of supersymmetric axion models in which the axion scale is radiatively generated in terms of the weak scale and the Planck scale. They include thermal inflation, axions produced by the decay of…
We propose a non-universal $\mathrm{U}(1)_{X}$ gauge extension to the Standard Model (SM) and an additional Peccei-Quinn (PQ) global symmetry to study the mass hierarchy and strong CP problem. The scheme allows us to distinguish among…
Dark matter could be a thermal relic comprised of strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs), where $3 \rightarrow 2$ interactions set the relic abundance. Such interactions generically arise in theories of chiral symmetry breaking via…
If supersymmetry exists at any scale, regardless of whether it is restored around the weak scale, it may be a good symmetry of the dark sector, enforcing a degeneracy between its lowest lying fermions and bosons. We explore the implications…
In the axionic solution of the strong CP problem, fermions which transform under quantum chromodynamics (QCD) are required. In supersymmetry, by equating U(1)_{PQ} with U(1)_R, the natural candidates are the gluinos, as pointed out some…
In an axiverse with numerous axions, the cosmological moduli problem poses a significant challenge because the abundance of axions can easily exceed that of dark matter. The well-established stochastic axion scenario offers a simple…
The Axion is a particle arising from the Peccei-Quinn solution to the strong CP problem. Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking in the early universe could produce a large number of axions which would still be present today, making the axion a…
Weak scale supersymmetry is a highly motivated extension of the Standard Model that has a strong degree of support from data. It provides several viable dark matter candidates: the lightest neutralino (a WIMP), the gravitino, and the…
We present a new mechanism to deplete the energy density of the QCD axion, making decay constants as high as $f_a \simeq 10^{17}\,\rm{GeV}$ viable for generic initial conditions. In our setup, the axion couples to a massless dark photon…
These TASI lectures where given in 2018 and provide an introduction to the Strong CP problem and the axion. I start by introducing the Strong CP problem from both a classical and a quantum mechanical perspective, calculating the neutron eDM…
Axion-like fields are naturally generated by a mechanism of anomaly cancellation of one or more anomalous gauge abelian symmetries at the Planck scale, emerging as duals of a two-form from the massless bosonic sector of string theory. This…
Axions have emerged as compelling candidates for describing the dark sector of the Universe. In this work, we explore quintessence models inspired by axion-like potentials as a dynamical alternative to the cosmological constant. These…
We propose a grand unified model in five dimensions that addresses the strong CP problem. In this framework, the boundary conditions that break the unified gauge group into the Standard Model gauge group simultaneously explain the mass…
We propose two models where a U(1) Peccei-Quinn global symmetry arises accidentally and is respected up to high-dimensional operators, so that the axion solution to the strong CP problem is successful even in the presence of…
The quantum chromodynamics axion with a decay constant near the Grand Unification (GUT) scale has an ultralight mass near a neV. We show, however, that axion-like particles with masses near the keV - PeV range with GUT-scale decay constants…
We propose a model for the QCD axion which is realized through a coupling of the Peccei-Quinn scalar field to magnetically charged fermions at high energies. We show that the axion of this model solves the strong CP problem and then…
The $\mu$eV-mass axion is one of the most promising candidates for cold dark matter, and remains to be a well-motivated solution to the CP problem of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) via the Peccei-Quinn mechanism. In this paper, we propose a…
Natural (axionic) inflation provides a well-motivated and predictive scheme for the description of the early universe. It leads to sizeable primordial tensor modes and thus a high mass scale of the inflationary potential. Naively this seems…
Murayama proposed a GeV-scale axion theory where the up-quark mass term is generated dynamically by the QCD chiral condensate, spontaneously breaking a Peccei-Quinn symmetry. It predicts a too large mass splitting between neutral and…