Related papers: Axions as Hot and Cold Dark Matter
We propose simple scenarios where the observed dark matter abundance arises from decays and scatterings of heavy quarks through freeze-in of an axion-like particle with mass in the $10 {\rm \, keV} - 1 {\rm \, MeV}$ range. These models can…
We study cosmological implications of an R-axion, a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with spontaneous breaking of an U(1)_R symmetry, focusing on its quantum fluctuations generated during inflation. We show that, in the anomaly…
By eschewing finetuning from the electroweak and QCD sectors of supersymmetry (natural supersymmetry or SUSY), and by invoking the Kim-Nilles solution to the SUSY mu problem, one is lead to models wherein the dark matter is comprised of a…
Axions and axion-like particles are ubiquitous in extensions of the Standard Model and offer a unifying framework for addressing open problems in cosmology. Depending on their mass and interactions, axions can act as dark matter, drive…
Stringent constraints from direct detection experiments and the Large Hadron Collider motivate us to consider models in which the dark matter does not directly couple to the Standard Model, but that instead annihilates into hidden sector…
We show that string moduli have axion-philic nature owing to the model-insensitive derivative interactions arising from the Kaehler potential. The decay of a modulus into stringy axions occurs without suppression by the mass of final…
Axion-like particles are a well-motivated dark matter candidate that can form a condensate with low momentum and high occupation number. In the presence of dark radiation, this condensate loses energy, naturally increasing the energy…
We investigate the nightmare scenario of dark sectors that are made of non-abelian gauge theories with fermions, gravitationally coupled to the Standard Model (SM). While testing these scenarios is experimentally challenging, they are…
We study the axion portal between the visible and the dark sector, where the dark matter is charged under an abelian extension of the Standard Model. In general, such models are anomalous and are rendered gauge invariant by a…
Axions arise in many theoretical extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, in particular the "string axiverse". If the axion masses, $m_a$, and (effective) decay constants, $f_a$, lie in specific ranges, then axions contribute…
Dark matter axions form a rethermalizing Bose-Einstein condensate. This provides an opportunity to distinguish axions from other forms of dark matter on observational grounds. I show that if the dark matter is axions, tidal torque theory…
We present a new scenario for generating the baryon asymmetry of the universe that is induced by a Nambu-Goldstone (NG) boson. The shift symmetry naturally controls the operators in the theory, while allowing the NG boson to couple to the…
An argument is presented that the dark matter is axions, at least in part. It has three steps. First, axions behave differently from the other forms of cold dark matter because they form a rethermalizing Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC).…
We consider a scale invariant extension of the standard model (SM) with a combined breaking of conformal and electroweak symmetry in a strongly interacting hidden $SU(n_c)$ gauge sector with $n_f$ vector-like hidden fermions. The (pseudo)…
We present a composite QCD axion model where the Peccei--Quinn (PQ) symmetry emerges as a high-quality, accidental symmetry. The axion potential is only modified by eight-fermion, dimension 12 operators, which if present at the Planck…
The existence of light QCD axions, whose mass depends on an additional free parameter, can lead to a new ground state of matter, where the sourced axion field reduces the nucleon effective mass. The presence of the axion field has…
We use observations of the cosmological large-scale structure to derive limits on two-component hot dark matter consisting of mass-degenerate neutrinos and hadronic axions, both components having velocity dispersions corresponding to their…
Recently we have proposed a simple hadronic axion model within gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. In this paper we discuss various cosmological consequences of the model in great detail. A particular attention is paid to a saxion, a…
Axions and other light particles appear ubiquitously in physics beyond the Standard Model, with a variety of possible couplings to ordinary matter. Cosmology offers a unique probe of these particles as they can thermalize in the hot…
We propose a novel class of composite models that feature both a technicolor and a composite Higgs vacuum limit, resulting in an asymmetric dark matter candidate. These Techni-Composite Higgs models are based on an extended left-right…