Related papers: Axion Kinetic Misalignment and Parametric Resonanc…
We revisit the renormalizable polynomial inflection point model of inflation, focusing on the small field scenario which can be treated fully analytically. In particular, the running of the spectral index is predicted to be $\alpha = -1.43…
We revisit the model of axion inflation in the context of stochastic inflation and investigate the effects of the stochastic noises associated to the electromagnetic fields. Because of the parity violating interaction, one polarization of…
We study the impact of sphaleron-induced thermal friction on the axion dark-matter abundance due to the interaction of an axion-like particle (ALP) with a dark non-abelian gauge sector in a secluded thermal bath. Thermal friction can either…
Axions are some of the best motivated particles beyond the Standard Model. We show how the attractive self-interactions of dark matter (DM) axions over a broad range of masses, from $10^{-22}$ eV to $10^7$ GeV, can lead to nongravitational…
We study perturbative reheating at the end of fibre inflation where the inflaton is a closed string modulus with a Starobinsky-like potential. We first derive the spectral index $n_s$ and the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ as a function of the…
We derive the requirements that a generic axion-like field has to satisfy in order to play the role of the inflaton field in the warm inflation scenario. Compared to the parameter space in ordinary natural inflation models, we find that the…
We study Affleck-Dine leptogenesis via the L H_u flat direction in supersymmetric theories. We find that the baryon asymmetry is enhanced when the energy scale of the inflation is sufficiently low. Especially, we consider models of low…
It is difficult to construct a post-inflation QCD axion model that solves the axion quality problem (and hence the Strong CP problem) without introducing a cosmological disaster. In a post-inflation axion model, the axion field value is…
The axion kinetic misalignment mechanism (KMM) opens the possibility of explaining dark matter for almost any axion mass and decay constant that are not accessible by the standard misalignment mechanism, in particular at low values of the…
Oscillating scalar field condensates induce small amplitude oscillations of the Hubble parameter which can induce a decay of the condensate due to a parametric resonance instability [1]. We show that this instability can lead to the decay…
The nature of axion cosmology is usually said to depend on whether the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry breaks before or after inflation. The PQ symmetry itself is believed to be an accident, so there is not necessarily a symmetry during…
The QCD axion solving the strong CP problem may originate from antisymmetric tensor gauge fields in compactified string theory, with a decay constant around the GUT scale. Such possibility appears to be ruled out now by the detection of…
Thermal inflation is a second epoch of exponential expansion at typical energy scales $V^{1/4} \sim 10^{6 \sim 8} \mathrm{GeV}$. If the usual primordial inflation is followed by thermal inflation, the primordial power spectrum is only…
Identifying dark matter candidates that simultaneously generate multiple observable cosmological signatures is a key goal in connecting particle physics with upcoming observations. Axion-like particles coupled to the Standard Model photon…
When the inflaton is coupled to the gluon Chern-Simons term for successful reheating, mixing between the inflaton and the QCD axion is generally expected given the solution of the strong CP problem by the QCD axion. This is particularly…
Understanding axion cosmology has important experimental consequences since it constrains the range of allowed values for the axion mass. In the standard thermal scenario, which assumes Peccei-Quinn symmetry restoration after inflation, an…
A rotation in the field space of a complex scalar field corresponds to a Bose-Einstein condensation of $U(1)$ charges. We point out that fluctuations in this rotating condensate exhibit sound-wave modes, which can be excited by cosmic…
We propose a relaxation mechanism for the initial misalignment angle of the pre-inflationary QCD axion with a large decay constant. The proposal addresses the challenges posed to the axion dark matter scenario by an overabundance of axions…
We give a systematic discussion of the contributions to the cosmological energy density in axions from vacuum realignment, string decay and wall decay. We call these the cold axion populations because their kinetic energy per particle is at…
We study the domain wall problem of an axion in chaotic inflation models. We show that the production of domain walls does not occurs if the Peccei-Quinn scalar has a flat potential and its breaking $F_{a}$ is larger than $\sim 10^{15}$GeV.…