Related papers: Axion Misalignment Driven to the Hilltop
If the electroweak Higgs vacuum expectation value $v$ in early universe is $\sim 1 \%$ higher than its present value $v_0=246$ GeV, the $^7$Li puzzle in BBN and the CMB/$\Lambda$CDM tension with late-universe measurements on Hubble…
We propose a novel and generalized mechanism, dubbed stochastic axion mixing. In a multi-axion framework, this mixing occurs naturally provided that the masses of all ultra-light axion-like particles (ALPs) are distinct and lighter than the…
The QCD axion is a well-motivated hypothetical particle beyond the Standard Model (SM) and a compelling dark matter candidate. Its relic abundance is highly sensitive to the thermal history of the universe when the temperature is around the…
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 misalignment mechanism for axion-like particles (ALPs) is a leading explanation for dark matter. In this work we investigate ALPs with non-periodic potentials, which allow for large misalignment of the field from the minimum and make it…
The relaxion mechanism provides a potentially elegant solution to the hierarchy problem without resorting to anthropic or other fine-tuning arguments. This mechanism introduces an axion-like field, dubbed the relaxion, whose expectation…
We suggest that dark matter can be identified with a stable composite fermion X^0, that arises within the holographic AdS/CFT models, where the Higgs boson emerges as a composite pseudo-goldstone boson. The predicted properties of X^0…
We propose a leptogenesis scenario where baryon asymmetry generation is assisted by the kinetic motion of the majoron, $J$, in the process of lepton-number violating inverse decays of a right-handed neutrino, $N$. We investigate two…
We present a model in which the question about a nature of the dark energy and the recently raised Hubble tension can be addressed at once. We consider the electroweak axion in the minimal supersymmetric standard model where the axion…
In supersymmetric theories, the presence of axions usually implies the existence of a non-compact, (pseudo)moduli space. In gauge mediated models, the axion would seem a particularly promising dark matter candidate. The cosmology of the…
Recently it has been proposed that dark matter axions from the galactic halo can produce a small Shapiro step-like signal in Josephson junctions whose Josephson frequency resonates with the axion mass [C. Beck, PRL 111, 231801 (2013)]. Here…
We show that very compact axion mini-clusters can form in models where axion-like-particle (ALP) dark matter is produced via the kinetic misalignment mechanism, which is well-motivated in pre-inflationary $U(1)$ symmetry breaking scenarios.…
We report that the hypothesis that the upper bound on the axion decay constant can be moved up beyond $10^{12}$ GeV in models with a stronger QCD in the early universe is not realized. This proof is possible by studying the superpotential…
In an axiverse with numerous axions, the cosmological moduli problem poses a significant challenge because the abundance of axions can easily exceed that of dark matter. The well-established stochastic axion scenario offers a simple…
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…
One fundamental physics interpretation of Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) results is that the observed accelerated expansion of the Universe is driven not by the cosmological constant, but by a slowly rolling scalar field, a…
The QCD axion needs not be an exact pseudoscalar for solving the strong CP problem. Its imperfectness can play a profound role cosmologically. We propose effective operators, where the Peccei-Quinn field linearly couples to Standard Model…
Scenarios with multiple pseudoscalars are interesting as they usually tend to provide a framework to naturally realize a light axion with a large decay constant which has rich applications in cosmology, especially in the context of…
An ultra-light axion with CP violating interactions with a dark sector and CP preserving interactions with the visible sector can act as a novel portal between dark matter and the Standard Model. In such theories, dark matter sources an…
We investigate the cosmology of an axion that is fundamentally non-compact. During inflation, fluctuations of the effectively massless field populate many QCD vacua, thereby evading conventional isocurvature constraints while generating…