Related papers: Instanton Expansions and Phase Transitions
This is a self-contained set of lecture notes on instantons in (super) Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions and in quantum mechanics. First the basics are derived from scratch: the regular and singular one-instanton solutions for Yang-Mills…
We investigate about the existence of static solitons solutions in the inverse G-L free energy in phase transitions of {\phi}4 theory. We calculate all the characteristics of these solitons , like localized structure, finite energy and mass…
We provide a compact review on recent developments on axion $F(R)$ gravity. The axion field is a string theory originating theoretical particle that is a perfect candidate for low-mass particle dark matter. In this review we present how a…
In the so-called natural inflation, an axion-like inflaton is assumed to have a cosine-type periodic potential. This is not the case in a very simple model in which the axion-like inflaton is coupled to an SU(N) (or other) pure Yang-Mills,…
Studying the instanton-induced contributions to various hard exclusive reactions provides physical insight into the transition from the non-perturbative to the perturbative regime of QCD. To this end, we study the leading-instanton…
We clarify certain aspects of instanton operators in five-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories. In particular, we show how, in the pointlike limit, they become supersymmetric and provide the natural bridge with the instantonic states…
A system of light axions comprising a classical axion field, one candidate for dark matter, has an instability that can rapidly mix in photon pairs in a coherent fashion if initiated by a quantum break (which eliminates the need for seeds.)…
We look for instanton solutions in a class of two scalar field gravity models, which includes the low energy string action in four dimensions. In models where the matter field has a potential with a false vacuum, we find that non-singular…
We show that instanton calculations in QCD become theoretically well defined in the gluon saturation environment which suppresses large size instantons. The effective cutoff scale is determined by the inverse of the saturation scale. We…
We numerically compute features in the power-spectrum that originate from the decay of fields during inflation. Using a simple, phenomenological, multi-field setup, we increase the number of fields from a few to thousands. Whenever a field…
General consistency requirements of Quantum Gravity demand the existence of one axion per Yang-Mills group. In this work, we consider theories with dark Yang-Mills sectors and investigate general phenomenological implications of these…
In this paper, we study Einstein gravity with a minimally coupled scalar field accompanied with a potential, assuming an O(4) symmetric metric ansatz. We call an Euclidean instanton is to be an oscillating instanton, if there exists a point…
We consider homogeneous non-abelian vector fields with general potential terms in an expanding universe. We find a mechanical analogy with a system of N interacting particles (with N the dimension of the gauge group) moving in three…
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…
The axion is a light pseudoscalar particle postulated to solve issues with the Standard Model, including the strong CP problem and the origin of dark matter. In recent years, there has been remarkable progress in the physics of axions in…
We study the time evolution of the quantum fluctuations of the axion field for both the QCD axion as well as axions arising in the context of supergravity and string theories. We explicitly keep track not only of the coherently oscillating…
In this work, we critically reanalyze the explicit breaking of the Peccei-Quinn global symmetry -- and the corresponding corrections to the QCD axion potential -- induced by gravity. Specifically, we examine the role of gravitational…
The coupling between a pseudo-scalar inflaton and a gauge field leads to an amount of additional density perturbations and gravitational waves (GWs) that is strongly sensitive to the inflaton speed. This naturally results in enhanced GWs at…
We explore quantum states of instanton solitons in five dimensional noncommutative Yang-Mills theories. We start with maximally supersymmetric U(N) theory compactified on a circle S^1, and derive the low energy dynamics of instanton…
In this short note we clarify some aspects of the impact that the Weak Gravity Conjecture has on models of (generalized) natural inflation. We address in particular certain technical and conceptual concerns recently raised regarding the…