Related papers: The Piezoaxionic Effect
The QCD axion offers a natural resolution to the strong CP problem and provides a compelling dark matter candidate. If the QCD axion constitutes all the dark matter, the simplest models pick out a narrow range of masses around $100\,\mu{\rm…
Axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) are a prominent dark matter candidate, drawing motivation in part from the axiverse of string theory. Axion-like particles can also arise as composite degrees of freedom of a dark sector, for example,…
It has recently been suggested that the presence of a plenitude of light axions, an Axiverse, is evidence for the extra dimensions of string theory. We discuss the observational consequences of these axions on astrophysical black holes…
Metastable domains of fluctuating topological charges can change the chirality of quarks and induce local parity violation in quantum chromodynamics. This can lead to observable charge separation along the direction of the strong magnetic…
Dark gauge sectors and axions are well-motivated in string theory. We demonstrate that if a confining gauge sector gives rise to dark glueballs that are a fraction of the dark matter, and the associated axion has a decay constant near the…
We show that axion phenomenology may be significantly different than conventionally assumed in theories which exhibit late phase transitions (below the QCD scale). In such theories one can find multiple pseudoscalars with axion-like…
We propose a novel paradigm for the QCD axion with high-quality Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry on the basis of electric-magnetic duality in the conformal window of a supersymmetric gauge theory. PQ breaking fields, that contain the QCD axion,…
The axion is a highly motivated elementary particle which could address two fundamental questions in physics - the strong CP problem and the dark matter mystery. Experimental searches for this hypothetical particle have started to reach…
We study the stochastic axion dark matter scenario in the axion landscape, where one of the axions is light and stable and therefore explains dark matter. If the axion mass at the potential is a typical value of the curvature along the…
We explore the interplay of the post-inflationary QCD axion and a light scalar field for the axion domain wall decay and dark matter (DM). The scalar field possesses a nonzero vacuum expectation value (VEV) during inflation, so that its…
Axions are hypothetical particles that may explain the observed dark matter (DM) density and the non-observation of a neutron electric dipole moment. An increasing number of axion laboratory searches are underway worldwide, but these…
Axion-like-particles are a well-motivated extension of the Standard Model that can mediate interactions between the dark matter and ordinary matter. Here we consider an axion portal between the two sectors, where the axion couples to dark…
Axions can naturally be very light due to the protection of an (approximate) shift symmetry. Because of their pseudoscalar nature, the long-range force mediated by the axion at tree level is spin dependent, which cannot lead to observable…
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…
The recent results from the Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) collaborations show the first evidence for the detection of a stochastic background of gravitational waves at the nHz frequencies. This discovery has profound implications for the…
The axion is an intriguing dark matter candidate emerging from the Peccei-Quinn solution to the strong CP problem. Current experimental searches for axion dark matter focus on the axion mass range below 40 $\mu$eV. However, if the…
The next generation of axion direct detection experiments may rule out or confirm axions as the dominant source of dark matter. We develop a general likelihood-based framework for studying the time-series data at such experiments, with a…
The strongest upper bounds on the axion mass come from astrophysical observations like the neutrino burst duration of SN1987A, which depends on the axion couplings to nucleons, or the white-dwarf cooling rates and red-giant evolution, which…
Axions are among the most sought-after candidates for dark matter. In the ultralight regime, they could help alleviate puzzles in small scale cosmology. Searches for a halo of axion dark matter rely on the electromagnetic response to a…
Axions, the hypothetical particles restoring the charge-parity symmetry in the strong sector of the Standard Model, and one of the most prone candidates for dark matter, are well-known to interact with plasmas. In a recent publication…