Related papers: Dark matter from an even lighter QCD axion: trappe…
Several theoretical motivations point to ultralight QCD axions with large decay constants $f_a \simeq \mathcal{O}(10^{16}-10^{17})$ GeV, to which experimental proposals are dedicated. This regime is known to face the problem of…
Axions solve the Strong CP Problem and are a cold dark matter candidate. The combined constraints from accelerator searches, stellar evolution limits and cosmology suggest that the axion mass is in the range $3 \cdot 10^{-3} > m_a >…
Many existing and proposed experiments targeting QCD axion dark matter (DM) can also search for a broad class of axion-like particles (ALPs). We analyze the experimental sensitivities to electromagnetically-coupled ALP DM in different…
We consider the production of axion dark matter through the misalignment mechanism in the context of a nonstandard cosmological history involving early matter domination by a scalar field with a time-dependent decay rate. In cases where the…
We discuss a QCD-scale composite axion model arising from dark QCD coupled to QCD. The presently proposed scenario not only solves the strong CP problem, but also is compatible with the preheating setup for the QCD baryogenesis. The…
If there are a plethora of axions in nature, they may have a complicated potential and create an axion landscape. We study a possibility that one of the axions is so light that it is cosmologically stable, explaining the observed dark…
We study the cosmological evolution of a light QCD axion and identify the parameter space to obtain the correct relic dark matter abundance. The axion potential is flattened at the origin, corresponding to the only minimum, while it is…
In the late 1970's, the axion was proposed as a solution to the Strong CP Problem, i.e. the puzzle why the strong interactions conserve parity P and the product CP of charge conjugation and parity in spite of the fact that the Standard…
One intriguing BSM particle is the QCD axion, which could simultaneously provide a solution to the Strong CP problem and account for some, if not all, of the dark matter density in the universe. This particle is a pNGB of the conjectured…
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 study for what specific values of the theoretical parameters the axion can form the totality of cold dark matter. We examine the allowed axion parameter region in the light of recent data collected by the WMAP5 mission plus baryon…
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…
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…
We study the mirror world with dark matter arising from the thermal freeze-out of the lightest, stable mirror particle -- the mirror electron. The dark matter abundance is achieved for mirror electrons of mass 225 GeV, fixing the mirror…
First I will review the QCD theta problem and the Peccei-Quinn solution, with its new particle, the axion. I will review the possibility of the axion as dark matter. If PQ symmetry was restored at some point in the hot early Universe, it…
We investigate the level-crossing phenomenon in two-axion systems, where the mass eigenvalues intersect as the mass of one axion increases with the cooling of the universe. This phenomenon can significantly alter the abundance of axions in…
The Axion is a particle arising from the Peccei-Quinn solution to the strong CP problem. Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking in the early universe could produce a large number of axions which would still be present today, making the axion a…
The dark matter puzzle is one of the most important open problems in modern physics. The ultra-light axion is a well-motivated dark matter candidate, conceived to resolve the strong-CP problem of quantum chromodynamics. Numerous precision…
We propose an experiment to search for QCD axion and axion-like-particle (ALP) dark matter. Nuclei that are interacting with the background axion dark matter acquire time-varying CP-odd nuclear moments such as an electric dipole moment. In…
We explore the phenomenology of QCD axion and axion-like particle (ALP) dark matter production via misalignment during inflationary reheating. We investigate scenarios involving inflaton oscillating in a generic potential $\sim \phi^n$,…