Related papers: 0.5 eV QCD Axion Cosmology
The cosmological constant, which was introduced by Einstein a century ago to allow for a static universe, experienced a revival two decades ago under the label dark energy as a parameter to model the observed accelerated expansion of the…
Recent measurements of the parameters of the Concordance Cosmology Model ($\Lambda$CDM) done in the low-redshift Universe with Supernovae Ia/Cepheids, and in the distant Universe done with Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) imply different…
I briefly review our current understanding of dark matter and dark energy. The first part of this paper focusses on issues pertaining to dark matter including observational evidence for its existence, current constraints and the `abundance…
Growing amount of data show evidence for statistical and apparent physical association between low-redshift galaxies and high-redshift quasi-stellar objects, suggesting noncosmological origin of their redshift and failure of classical…
I briefly review the cosmological constant problem and the issue of dark energy (or quintessence). Within the framework of quantum field theory, the vacuum expectation value of the energy momentum tensor formally diverges as $k^4$. A cutoff…
Proposed half a century ago, the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion explains the lack of charge and parity violation in the strong interactions and is a compelling candidate for cold dark matter. The last decade has seen the rapid…
The concordance (LambdaCDM) model reproduces the main current cosmological observations assuming the validity of general relativity at all scales and epochs, the presence of cold dark matter, and of a cosmological constant, equivalent to a…
The accelerating expansion of the universe is the most surprising cosmological discovery in many decades. In this short review, we briefly summarize theories for the origin of cosmic acceleration and the observational methods being used to…
A huge amount of good quality data converges towards the picture of a spatially flat universe undergoing the today observed phase of accelerated expansion. This new observational trend is commonly addressed as Precision Cosmology. Despite…
We provide preliminary quantitative evidence that a new solution to averaging the observed inhomogeneous structure of matter in the universe [gr-qc/0702082, arxiv:0709.0732], may lead to an observationally viable cosmology without exotic…
A decade ago bit-string physics predicted that the baryon/photon ratio at the time of nucleogenesis $\eta= 1/256^4$ and that the dark matter/baryonic matter ratio $\Omega_{DM}/\Omega_B= 12.7$. Accepting that the normalized Hubble constant…
Several independent cosmological data, collected within the last twenty years, revealed the accelerated expansion rate of the Universe, usually assumed to be driven by the so called dark energy, which, according to recent estimates,…
The Hubble constant, $H_0$, is a crucial parameter in cosmology. However, various cosmic observations have produced differing posterior values for $H_0$, resulting in what is referred to as the $H_0$ tension. To resolve this discrepancy,…
We study cosmological solutions of (pseudo)scalar theories with periodic potentials, in the presence of arbitrary cosmological fluids -- including a cosmological constant of either sign. Independently of the initial misalignment angle and…
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 review current cosmological constraints on the axion. We describe the basic mechanisms by which axions are created in the early universe, focussing on the standard thermal scenario where the dominant process is through axion radiation by…
I present the first constraints on QCD axion dark matter using measurements from the James Webb Space Telescope. By utilizing publicly available MIRI and NIRSpec blank-sky observations, originally collected for sky subtraction purposes, I…
A QCD axion with a decay constant below $ 10 ^{ 11} ~{\rm GeV} $ is a strongly-motivated extension to the Standard Model, though its relic abundance from the misalignment mechanism or decay of cosmic defects is insufficient to explain the…
If the electroweak Higgs vacuum expectation value $v$ in early universe is $\sim 1 \%$ higher than its present value $v_0=246$ GeV, the $^7$Li puzzle in BBN and the CMB/$\Lambda$CDM tension with late-universe measurements on Hubble…
Cosmologically long-lived, composite states arise as natural dark matter candidates in theories with a strongly interacting hidden sector at a scale of 10 - 100 TeV. Light axion-like states, with masses in the 1 MeV - 10 GeV range, are also…