Related papers: $f(R)$ Gravity Inflation with String-Corrected Axi…
Observable primordial tensor modes in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) would point to a high scale of inflation $H_{I}$. If the scale of Peccei-Quinn (PQ) breaking $f_a$ is greater than $\frac{H_{I}}{2\pi}$, CMB constraints on…
We show how a mass term for gravitational axions (''gravi-axions'') with a Chern-Simons coupling to gravity can naturally arise due to non-perturbative contributions from Euclidean wormholes, breaking the continuous shift symmetry of the…
We investigate tensor modes in inflationary scenarios from the point of view of Ashtekar variables and their generalizations labelled by Immirzi parameter \gamma, which we'll assume imaginary. By defining the classical perturbed…
The inflationary paradigm has enjoyed phenomenological success, however, a compelling particle physics realization is still lacking. The key obstruction is that the requirement of a suitably flat scalar potential is sensitive to…
Axions play a central role in inflationary model building and other cosmological applications. This is mainly due to their flat potential, which is protected by a global shift symmetry. However, quantum gravity is known to break global…
The early time expansion of the space-time, namely inflation, is introduced to solve some cosmological problems. $F(R)$ gravity is a simple extension of the general relativity to induce the inflationary expansion. The precise observation of…
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…
During inflation, higher derivative terms in the gravitational action may play a significant role. Building on new stable formulations of four-derivative scalar-tensor theories, we study the impact of these corrections in the case where the…
In present paper we propose further modification of $f(R,T)$-gravity (where $T$ is trace of energy-momentum tensor) by introducing higher derivatives matter fields. We discuss stability conditions in proposed theory and find restrictions…
We propose a new mechanism to produce axion dark matter from inflationary fluctuations. Quantum fluctuations during inflation are strengthened by a coupling of the axion kinetic term to the inflaton, which we parametrize as an effective…
Motivated by the 4d effective field theories for closed string axions in Type II string compactifications with D-branes, we consider chiral gauge theories coupled to multiple axions. We discuss how well-known non-perturbative dynamical…
Axion models have two serious cosmological problems, domain wall and isocurvature perturbation problems. In order to solve these problems we investigate the Linde's model in which the field value of the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) scalar is large…
We investigate the reheating process in an axion inflation model where the inflaton couples to non-Abelian gauge fields via the Chern-Simons coupling. The Chern-Simons coupling leads to the efficient production of gauge fields via a…
Constraints on inflationary scenarios and isocurvature perturbations have excluded the simplest and most generic models of dark matter based on QCD axions. Considering non-minimal kinetic couplings of scalar fields to gravity substantially…
Models of large-field inflation based on axion-like fields with shift symmetries can be simple and natural, and make a promising prediction of detectable primordial gravitational waves. The Weak Gravity Conjecture is known to constrain the…
In this note we show that models of natural inflation based on closed string axions are incompatible with the weak gravity conjecture (WGC). Specifically, we use T-duality in order to map the bounds on the charge-to-mass ratio of particles…
We study fermions derivatively coupled to axion-like or pseudoscalar fields, and show that the axial vector current of the fermions is not conserved in the limit where the fermion is massless. This apparent violation of the classical chiral…
We continue the investigation of F-term axion monodromy inflation in string theory, while seriously taking the issue of moduli stabilization into account. For a number of closed and open string models, we show that they suffer from serious…
In this work we shall develop a quantitative approach for extracting predictions on the primordial gravitational waves energy spectrum for $f(R)$ gravity. We shall consider two distinct models which yield different phenomenology, one pure…
The misalignment mechanism for axion production depends on the temperature-dependent axion mass. The latter has recently been determined within the interacting instanton liquid model (IILM), and provides for the first time a well-motivated…