Related papers: Axion excursions of the landscape during inflation
It is known that Yang-Mills theories, especially in the large-$N$ limit, exhibit a $\theta$-vacuum structure with a multi-branched vacuum energy. In this work, we demonstrate that this multi-branch structure can play a crucial role in axion…
We study the prospects of detection at terrestrial and space interferometers, as well as at pulsar timing array experiments, of a stochastic gravitational wave background which can be produced in models of axion inflation. This potential…
In this study, we explore the back reaction of phase transitions in the spectator sector on the inflaton field during slow-roll inflation. Due to the significant excursion of the inflaton field, these phase transitions are likely to occur…
We study the multifield dynamics of axion models nonminimally coupled to gravity. As usual, we consider a canonical $U(1)$ symmetry-breaking model in which the axion is the phase of a complex scalar field. If the complex scalar field has a…
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 revisit the framework of axion-like inflation in view of the possibility that the coupling of the inflaton to a non-Abelian topological charge density could lead to the generation of a rapidly thermalizing heat bath. Both dispersive…
In this paper, we investigate the Axion-like Particle inflation by applying the multi-nature inflation model, where the end of inflation is achieved through the phase transition (PT). The events of PT should not be less than $200$, which…
We review the physics potential of a next generation search for solar axions: the International Axion Observatory (IAXO). Endowed with a sensitivity to discover axion-like particles (ALPs) with a coupling to photons as small as…
In addition to spectacular signatures such as black hole superradiance and the rotation of CMB polarization, the plenitude of axions appearing in the string axiverse may have potentially dangerous implications. An example is the…
We evaluate the quantum backreaction due to a gauge field coupled to a pseudo-scalar field driving a slow-roll inflationary stage, the so-called axion inflation. The backreaction is evaluated for the first time using a gauge invariant…
We review conceptual aspects of inflationary scenarios able to produce primordial black holes, by amplifying the size of curvature fluctuations to the level required for triggering black hole formation. We identify general mechanisms to do…
Slow-roll inflation is a successful paradigm. However we find that even a small coupling of the inflaton to other light fields can dramatically alter the dynamics and predictions of inflation. As an example, the inflaton can generically…
The observed dark matter abundance in the Universe can be fully accounted for by a minimally coupled spectator scalar field that was light during inflation and has sufficiently strong self-coupling. In this scenario, dark matter was…
We study the cosmology of axions in the post-inflationary scenario, where random initial conditions and the ensuing string-domain-wall network generate an isocurvature power spectrum. Axions radiated from strings behave as warm, wave-like…
Axions play a central role in many realizations of large field models of inflation and in recent alternative mechanisms for generating primordial tensor modes in small field models. If these axions couple to gauge fields, the coupling…
We study the scalar-tensor-tensor non-Gaussian signal in an inflationary model comprising also an axion coupled with SU(2) gauge fields. In this set-up, metric fluctuations are sourced by the gauge fields already at the linear level…
We demonstrate that the co-genesis of baryon asymmetry and dark matter can be achieved through the rotation of an axion-like particle, driven by a flip in the vacuum manifold's direction at the end of inflation. This can occur if the axion…
We present an inflationary universe model which utilizes two coupled real scalar fields. The inflation field $\phi$ experiences a first order phase transition and its potential dominates the energy density of the Universe during the…
The QCD axion is one of the best motivated dark matter candidates. The misalignment mechanism is well known to produce an abundance of the QCD axion consistent with dark matter for an axion decay constant of order $10^{12}$ GeV. For a…
We consider inflationary models with multiple spectator axions coupled to dark gauge sectors via Chern-Simons (CS) terms. The energy injection into Abelian gauge fields from the axions engenders a multi-peak profile for scalar and tensor…