Related papers: A keV String Axion from High Scale Supersymmetry
We consider the scenario in which the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking is followed by a period of inflation. A particularly interesting case is that the string-domain wall network produced by the symmetry breaking enters the horizon after the…
Axions constitute a well-motivated dark matter candidate, and if PQ symmetry breaking occurred after inflation, it should be possible to make a clean prediction for the relation between the axion mass and the axion dark matter density. We…
A soft X-ray excess has been claimed to exist in and around a number of galaxy clusters and this emission has been attributed to the warm-hot intergalactic medium that may constitute most of the baryons in the local universe. We have…
If R-parity is only mildly violated then the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) can be stable over cosmologically time-scales and still account for the dark matter relic density. We examine the possibility of generating detectable X-ray…
In this paper we explore the possibility of observable gravitational waves as a manifestation of the QCD axion dynamics. In particular, we focus on dynamical axion models which solve the strong CP problem, and include the confinement of a…
In a previous work, a mechanism was presented by which baryon asymmetry can be generated during inflation from elliptically polarized gravitons. Nonetheless, the mechanism only generated a realistic baryon asymmetry under special…
We present a model in which supersymmetry is dynamically broken at comparatively low energies. Previous efforts to construct simple models of this sort have been hampered by the presence of axions. The present model, which exploits an…
In Little Higgs models, the Higgs mass is stabilized at the one-loop level by the mechanism of collective symmetry breaking. Typically, the basic ingredient of these models is a large(r) global symmetry group spontaneously broken at a scale…
The recently observed mass ~ 125 GeV for the Higgs boson suggests a high-energy scale SUSY breaking, above O(10) TeV. It is, however, very puzzling why nature chooses such a high energy scale for the SUSY breaking, if the SUSY is a solution…
We present a scale invariant extension of the Standard model allowing for the Kim-Shifman-Vainstein-Zakharov (KSVZ) axion solution of the strong CP problem in QCD. We add the minimal number of new particles and show that the Peccei-Quinn…
A QCD axion with a decay constant below $ 10 ^{ 11} ~{\rm GeV} $ is a strongly-motivated extension to the Standard Model, though its relic abundance from the misalignment mechanism or decay of cosmic defects is insufficient to explain the…
We review current cosmological constraints on the axion. We describe the basic mechanisms by which axions are created in the early universe, focussing on the standard thermal scenario where the dominant process is through axion radiation by…
In order to explain the recently reported peak at $3.55$ keV in the galactic x-ray spectrum, we propose a simple model. In this model, the Standard Model is extended by including a neutral spin-$3/2$ vector-like fermion that transforms like…
Scalar field dark matter likely is able to solve all small-scale cosmology problems facing the cold dark matter (CDM), and has become an emerging contender to challenge the CDM. It however requires a particle mass $\sim 1 - 2…
The QCD axion is a good dark matter candidate. The observed dark matter abundance can arise from misalignment or defect mechanisms, which generically require an axion decay constant $f_a \sim \mathcal{O}(10^{11})$ GeV (or higher). We…
I review the relations between mass scales in various string theories and in M-theory. I discuss physical motivations and possible consistent realizations of large volume compactifications and low string scale. Large longitudinal…
Cosmological evolution of axionic strings is investigated by numerically solving field equations of a complex scalar field in 3+1 dimensions. It is shown that the global strings relax to the scaling solution with a significantly smaller…
We discuss the cosmology of string models with perturbative supersymmetry breaking at a scale of ${\cal O}$(TeV). Such models exhibit Kaluza-Klein like spectra and contain unstable massive gravitinos/gravitons. We find that considerations…
Incorporating the QCD axion and simultaneously satisfying current constraints on the dark matter density and isocurvature fluctuations requires non-minimal fine-tuning of inflationary parameters or the axion misalignment angle (or both) for…
New particles coupled to the Standard Model can equilibrate in stellar cores if they are sufficiently heavy and strongly coupled. In this work, we investigate the astrophysical consequences of such a scenario for massive stars by…