Related papers: Optical effects of domain walls
Light scalar fields, with double well potentials and direct matter couplings, undergo density driven phase transitions, leading to the formation of domain walls. Such theories could explain dark energy, dark matter or source the nanoHz…
We investigate the cosmological constraints on axion models where the domain wall number is greater than one. In these models, multiple domain walls attached to strings are formed, and they survive for a long time. Their annihilation occurs…
The inherently unstable nature of domain walls makes their detection in laboratory experiments extremely challenging. We propose a method to stabilise domain walls in a particular modified gravity model inside a cavity. We suggest two ways…
Stable topological defects of light (pseudo)scalar fields can contribute to the Universe's dark energy and dark matter. Currently the combination of gravitational and cosmological constraints provides the best limits on such a possibility.…
Domain walls, arising from the spontaneous breaking of a discrete symmetry, can be coupled to charge carriers. In much the same way as the Witten model for superconducting cosmic string, an investigation is made here in the case of…
We evaluate the impact of domain-wall annihilation on the currently ongoing and planned gravitational wave experiments, including a case in which domain walls experience a frictional force due to interactions with the ambient plasma. We…
Gravitational-wave interferometers have been recently proposed as a promising probe in searches for dark matter. These highly sensitive instruments are potentially able to detect the interactions of dark matter with the detector's hardware.…
Domain wall annihilation can leave a distinctive imprint on the induced gravitational wave spectrum. During annihilation, most of the domain wall energy transforms into the scalar field responsible for the initial $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry…
We study properties of domain walls in the symmetron model, in which the scalar gravitational degree of freedom decouples from matter in regions of high density, and exhibits a spontaneously broken $Z_2$ symmetry at low densities. The…
Gravitational wave astronomy has recently emerged as a new way to study our Universe. In this work, we survey the potential of gravitational wave interferometers to detect macroscopic astrophysical objects comprising the dark matter.…
We revisit the study of light interacting with QCD axion domain walls from the perspective of the non-linear axion coupling to photons, $g(a) F \tilde F$, which encodes the effects related to the breaking of the axion shift symmetry…
Discrete symmetries are widely imposed in particle theories. It is well-known that the spontaneous breaking of discrete symmetries leads to domain walls. Current studies of domain walls have focused on those from the spontaneous breaking of…
We investigate the prospect of an alternative laboratory-based search for the coupling of axions and axion-like particles to photons. Here, the collision of two laser beams resonantly produces axions, and a signal photon is detected after…
We study the cosmological evolution of domain walls bounded by strings which arise naturally in axion models. If we introduce a bias in the potential, walls become metastable and finally disappear. We perform two dimensional lattice…
Cosmological domain walls appear in many well-motivated extensions to the standard model of particle physics. If produced, they quickly enter into a self-similar scaling regime, where they are capable of efficiently sourcing a stochastic…
The spontaneous breaking of an $A_4$ flavour symmetry, often used to predict leptonic mixing, can lead to the formation of domain walls which can annihilate and generate a stochastic gravitational wave background. We study this phenomenon…
Domain walls can form after breakdown of a discrete symmetry induced by first-order phase transition, we study the heavy dark matter produced around the temperature of the phase transition that yields the breakdown of a $\mathbb{Z}_{3}$…
We perform an updated analysis on a long-lived axion domain wall (DW) network. By simulating the axion field on a 3D lattice and fitting an analytical model for the DW evolution, we identify the leading energy loss mechanisms of the DWs and…
We show that heavy axion domain walls induce domain walls of the QCD axion through a mixing between the heavy axion and the QCD axion, even when the pre-inflationary initial condition is assumed for the QCD axion. The induced domain walls…
We discuss the sensitivity of the present and near-future axion dark matter experiments to a halo of axions or axion-like particles gravitationally bound to the Earth or the Sun. The existence of such halos, assuming they are formed,…