Related papers: New confining force solution of QCD axion domain w…
Axions and dark photons are common in many extensions of the Standard Model. The dark axion portal -- an axion coupling to the dark photon and photon -- can significantly modify their phenomenology. We study the cosmological constraints on…
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…
We study the contribution to the QCD axion dark matter abundance that is produced by string defects during the so-called scaling regime. Clear evidence of scaling violations is found, the most conservative extrapolation of which strongly…
The model independent axion of string theory has a decay constant of order of the Planck scale. We explore the properties of this quintessence candidate (quintaxion) in the scheme of hidden sector supergravity breakdown. In models allowing…
First I will review the QCD theta problem and the Peccei-Quinn solution, with its new particle, the axion. I will review the possibility of the axion as dark matter. If PQ symmetry was restored at some point in the hot early Universe, it…
We suggest a new solution to the strong CP problem. The solution is based on the proper use of the boundary conditions for the QCD generating functional integral. We expand the perturbative boundary conditions to both perturbative and…
Small size QCD instantons may spoil the axion solution to the strong CP problem if QCD is not asymptotically free at high energy scales. We examine this issue in supersymmetric models using a manifestly supersymmetric scheme to compute the…
A popular proposal for resolving the Hubble tension involves an early phase of dark energy, driven by an axion field with a periodic potential. In this paper, we argue that these models are tightly constrained by the axion weak gravity…
Models with axion like particles (ALPs) often predict the formation of a string-domain wall network in the early universe. We study how such networks of defects appear in the context of string theory, and discuss the conditions for their…
Axion-like dark matter whose symmetry breaking occurs after the end of inflation predicts enhanced primordial density fluctuations at small scales. This leads to dense axion minihalos (or miniclusters) forming early in the history of the…
We examine in the context of supersymmetric models whether the usual cosmological upper bound on the axion decay constant can be relaxed by assuming a period of stronger QCD in the early universe. By evaluating the axion potential in the…
The current cosmological constraints on a dark matter axion are reviewed. We describe the basic mechanisms by which axions are created in the early universe, both in the standard thermal scenario in which axion strings form and in…
The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle postulated by the Peccei-Quinn theory to resolve the strong CP problem in QCD. If axions exist and have low mass, they are a candidate for dark matter as well. So far our knowledge of the…
QCD was shown to have a nontrivial vacuum structure due to the topology of the theta = theta+2*pi*n parameter. As a result of this nontrivial topology, in the large N_c limit, quasi-stable QCD domain walls appear, characterized by a…
The topological susceptibility of the QCD vacuum provides an understanding of $\theta$-vacua as vacua of a Chern-Simons gauge theory. In this way, it gives an immediate proof of the physicality of the boundary $\theta$-term. This makes the…
The strong CP problem and its resolution through the existence of an axion are briefly reviewed. The constraints on the axion from accelerator searches, from the evolution of red giants and from supernova SN1987a combine to require $m_a < 3…
QCD axions are a well-motivated candidate for cold dark matter. Cold axions are produced in the early universe by vacuum realignment, axion string decay and axion domain wall decay. We show that cold axions thermalize via their…
We examine an interesting scenario to solve the domain wall problem recently suggested by Preskill, Trivedi, Wilczek and Wise. The effective potential is calculated in the presence of the QCD axial anomaly. It is shown that some discrete…
The post-inflationary Peccei-Quinn symmetry-breaking scenario provides a rich theoretical framework to study axion dark matter production through the dynamics oftopological defects. Accurate predictions for the axion abundance require a…
The companion-axion model introduces a second QCD axion to rescue the Peccei-Quinn solution to the strong-CP problem from the effects of colored gravitational instantons. As in single-axion models, the two axions predicted by the…