Related papers: Planckian Axions and the Weak Gravity Conjecture
We numerically study axion-U(1) inflation, focusing on the regime where the coupling between axions and gauge fields results in significant backreaction from the amplified gauge fields during inflation. These amplified gauge fields not only…
In this paper, we explore the intriguing interplay between fundamental theoretical physics concepts within the context of charged black holes. Specifically, we focus on the consistency of the weak gravity conjecture (WGC) and weak cosmic…
In the present thesis, using an effective field theory point of view, we explore theories of single-field inflation where higher derivative operators become relevant, affecting in a novel way the dynamics and therefore the observations. For…
Based on our previous work, we constructed a phenomenological model of inflation with the higher derivative axion field in the light of recent cosmological expertiments BICEP2 and PLANCK. In order to achieve observed values for the…
Causality constrains the gravitational interactions of massive higher spin particles in both AdS and flat spacetime. We explore the extent to which these constraints apply to composite particles, explaining why they do not rule out…
We use the Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture (TCC) to constrain the decay constants $f$ characterizing a set of N identical axion-like fields with cosine potentials, improving upon the precision of other Swampland conjectures and…
This paper provides a systematic study of supergravity contributions relevant for inflationary model building in Jordan frame supergravity. In this framework, canonical kinetic terms in the Jordan frame result in the separation of the…
It is quite well known for some time that string inspired axionic terms of the form $\nu (\phi)\tilde{R}R$, known also as Chern-Simons terms, do not affect the scalar perturbations and the background evolution for a flat…
We propose a minimal model framework for physics below the Planck scale with the following features: (i) it is based on no-scale supergravity, as favoured in many string compactifications, (ii) it incorporates Starobinsky-like inflation,…
Conventionally, the strong-$CP$ problem is assumed to be a naturalness puzzle, with the axion solution sometimes viewed as an ad hoc fix. Gravity is either ignored or taken as a threat for the global Peccei-Quinn symmetry. We explain that…
Models of axion inflation are particularly interesting since they provide a natural justification for the flatness of the potential over a super-Planckian distance, namely the approximate shift-symmetry of the inflaton. In addition, most of…
Axion inflation is a well-motivated model of cosmic inflation with a rich phenomenology. The abundant production of gauge fields during axion inflation notably sources a stochastic gravitational-wave (GW) background signal, which nourishes…
We present a systematic study of gravitational wave (GW) signals from phase transitions and topological defects in a unified high-quality axion framework. The gauged $U(1)_g$ symmetry forbids any bias term that could lift the vacuum…
Gravity can give rise to (pseudo)scalar fields, for instance due to torsion. In particular, axions of gravitational origin have been proposed as a minimal and compelling solution to the strong CP problem. In this work, we critically examine…
We investigate inflationary magnetogenesis in a scenario where conformal invariance of electromagnetism is broken through a \emph{non-minimal Yukawa-like coupling between the inflaton and the Ricci scalar}. We account for electromagnetic…
We study the general multi-axion systems, focusing on the possibility of large field inflation driven by axions. We find that through axion mixing from a non-diagonal metric on the moduli space and/or from St\"uckelberg coupling to a U(1)…
We show that the coexistence of a non-minimal coupling to gravity $f_{\mathcal{R}}=1+c{\mathcal{R}} \phi^{n/2}$ with a kinetic mixing of the form $f_K = f_{\mathcal{R}}^m$ -- where $n=2$ and 4 and $0.5 \le m \le 10$ -- reconciles chaotic…
In this work we aim to revive the interest for non-minimal derivative coupling theories of gravity, in light of the GW170817 event. These theories include a string motivated non-minimal kinetic term for the scalar field of the form $\sim…
We consider, in Palatini formalism, a modified gravity of which the scalar field derivative couples to Einstein tensor. In this scenario, Ricci scalar, Ricci tensor and Einstein tensor are functions of connection field. As a result, the…
We investigate how super-Planckian axions can arise when type IIB 3-form flux is used to restrict a two-axion field space to a one-dimensional winding trajectory. If one does not attempt to address notoriously complicated issues like Kahler…