Related papers: Challenges for heavy QCD axion inflation
Considerable theoretical efforts have gone into expanding the reach of the QCD axion beyond its canonical mass--decay-constant relation. The $Z_\mathcal{N}$ QCD axion model reduces the QCD axion mass naturally, by invoking a discrete…
Incorporating the QCD axion and simultaneously satisfying current constraints on the dark matter density and isocurvature fluctuations requires non-minimal fine-tuning of inflationary parameters or the axion misalignment angle (or both) for…
The companion-axion model introduces a second QCD axion to rescue the Peccei-Quinn solution to the strong-CP problem from the effects of colored gravitational instantons. As in single-axion models, the two axions predicted by the…
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…
We study in detail a supersymmetric Peccei-Quinn model, which has a DFSZ and a KSVZ version. The fields breaking the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry correspond to flat directions (flaton fields) and have unsuppressed couplings when PQ symmetry…
We study the consequences of the existence and breaking of a Peccei--Quinn symmetry within the context of a dynamical model of electroweak symmetry breaking based on broken gauged flavour symmetries. We perform an estimate of the axion mass…
An extension of the Standard Model with three right-handed neutrinos and a simple invisible axion model can account for all experimentally confirmed signals of new physics (neutrino oscillations, dark matter and baryon asymmetry) in…
We present a model that solves the strong CP problem via an axion parametrically heavier than the standard one. Within this picture the Standard Model quarks are embedded into a larger non-abelian Grand Color group that at high scales…
The abundance of the QCD axion is known to be suppressed if the Hubble parameter during inflation, $H_{\rm inf}$, is lower than the QCD scale, and if the inflation lasts sufficiently long. We show that the tight upper bound on the inflation…
Axions are hypothetical pseudoscalar particles introduced initially as a solution to the Strong CP problem in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), and they also arise naturally in a broad class of low-energy compactifications of string theory.…
The combination of the data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) with the recent measurements from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) indicate that the scalar spectral index \( n_s \) has a larger value than the Planck…
We present a new mechanism to deplete the energy density of the QCD axion, making decay constants as high as $f_a \simeq 10^{17}\,\rm{GeV}$ viable for generic initial conditions. In our setup, the axion couples to a massless dark photon…
In the framework where the strong coupling is dynamical, the QCD sector may confine at a much higher temperature than it would in the Standard Model, and the temperature-dependent mass of the QCD axion evolves in a non-trivial way. We find…
We investigate what it takes for the axion to address the strong CP problem in the presence of explicit Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry breaking effects besides the strong interaction. In cases where the PQ-Higgsing scalar field directly couples…
The QCD axion addresses the strong CP problem and dark matter via the misalignment mechanism, typically requiring a decay constant $f_a\sim \mathcal{O}(10^{12}$ GeV), unless the initial misalignment angle ($\theta_i$) is fine-tuned. This…
We discuss production of QCD axion dark matter in a novel scenario, which assumes time-varying scale of Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking. The latter decreases as the Universe's temperature at early times and eventually stabilises at a large…
We study an inflationary model developed by Kaloper and Sorbo, in which the inflaton is an axion with a sub-Planckian decay constant, whose potential is generated by mixing with a topological 4-form field strength. This gives a 4d…
The axion mass receives a large correction from small instantons if the QCD gets strongly coupled at high energies. We discuss the size of the new CP violating phases caused by the fact that the small instantons are sensitive to the UV…
A minimal extension of the Standard Model (SM) with a single new mass scale and providing a complete and consistent picture of particle physics and cosmology up to the Planck scale is presented. We add to the SM three right-handed…
It is firmly believed that the axion for solving the strong CP problem must come from the spontaneous breaking of an anomalous Peccei-Quinn global symmetry. Here we show a new possibility that the axion can be induced by a pseudo Goldstone…