Related papers: Axion Structure Formation I: The Co-motion Picture
Cosmological data provides us two key constraints on dark matter (DM): it must have a particular abundance, and it must have an adiabatic spectrum of density perturbations in the early universe. Many different cosmological scenarios have…
If the symmetry breaking leading to the origin of the axion dark matter field occurs after the end of inflation and is never restored, then overdensities in the axion field collapse to form dense objects known in the literature as axion…
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…
Kinetic misalignment, one of the most compelling scenarios for the non-thermal generation of axion dark matter, is generally accompanied by axion fragmentation, a process in which the energy of the axion condensate is transferred to its…
Axions are hypothetical pseudoscalar particles introduced initially as a solution to the Strong CP problem in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), and they also arise naturally in a broad class of low-energy compactifications of string theory.…
Although the standard {\Lambda}CDM model describes the cosmic microwave background radiation and the large scale structure of the Universe with great success, it has some tensions with observations in the effective number of neutrino…
The cosmological scenario where the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is broken after inflation is investigated. In this scenario, topological defects such as strings and domain walls produce a large number of axions, which contribute to the cold dark…
The QCD axion and axion-like particles, as leading dark matter candidates, can also have interesting implications for dark matter substructures if the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is broken after inflation. In such a scenario, axion perturbations…
Cosmology and particle physics are closer today than ever before, with several searches underway at the interface between cosmology, particle physics, and field theory. The mystery of dark matter (DM) is one of the greatest common unsolved…
We review the motivation for the axion as a solution of the strong CP puzzle and as a candidate for cold dark matter. Then we discuss benchmark axion models and present their predictions concerning axion couplings to the Standard Model and…
The hypothesis of an `invisible' axion was made by Misha Shifman and others, approximately thirty years ago. It has turned out to be an unusually fruitful idea, crossing boundaries between particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. An…
The formation of structure in the Universe offers some of the most powerful evidence in favour of the existence of dark matter in the Universe. We summarize recent work by ourselves and our collaborators, using linear and quasi-linear…
Cosmological axions, an important dark matter candidate, are generated when a scalar field with a spontaneously broken O(2) invariance develops an explicitly O(2)-breaking tilt cosmologically, leading to coherent production of…
A kinetic mixing between the axion and the inflaton allows for a production of axion dark matter even if the inflationary Hubble scale is smaller than the zero-temperature axion mass. We analyze the axion dynamics in this recently…
We present an overview of recent developments in the detection of light bosonic dark matter, including axion, pseudoscalar axion-like and scalar dark matter, which form either a coherently oscillating classical field or topological defects…
Generating axion dark matter through the kinetic misalignment mechanism implies the generation of large asymmetries for Standard Model fermions in the early universe. Even if these asymmetries are washed out at later times, they can trigger…
The cold dark matter model has become the leading theoretical paradigm for the formation of structure in the Universe. Together with the theory of cosmic inflation, this model makes a clear prediction for the initial conditions for…
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…
We consider how QCD axions produced by the misalignment mechanism could form galactic dark matter halos. We recall that stationary, gravitationally stable axion field configurations have the size of an asteroid with masses of order…
Among the prominent low-mass dark matter candidates is the QCD axion but also other light and weakly interacting particles beyond the Standard Model. We review briefly the case for such dark matter and give an overview on most recent…