Related papers: Improved hot dark matter bound on the QCD axion
We derive new bounds on hadronically-interacting, sub-GeV mass dark matter. First, we show that one-loop interactions with photons can be sufficient to maintain equilibrium between the dark matter and Standard Model sectors at MeV…
We demonstrate that dark matter axion production is enhanced through a natural and unavoidable mechanism: primordial temperature fluctuations periodically modulate the axion mass during the QCD phase transition, thereby triggering…
Murayama proposed a GeV-scale axion theory where the up-quark mass term is generated dynamically by the QCD chiral condensate, spontaneously breaking a Peccei-Quinn symmetry. It predicts a too large mass splitting between neutral and…
The QCD axion cosmology depends crucially on whether the QCD axion is present during inflation or not. We point out that contrary to the standard criterion, the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry could remain unbroken during inflation, even when…
Axions, and axion-like particles, have come back into fashion in the last decades as a possible solution to the galactic-scale crisis suffered by the cold dark matter model. In the framework of the wave Dark Matter model, we have carried…
In this lecture we review several cosmological issues associated with the axion. Axion solves the strong CP problem and is a good candidate for the dark matter. Limits, which are imposed by the value of isocurvature fluctuations fraction in…
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…
Axion is one of the most popular candidates of the cosmological dark matter. Recent studies considering the misalignment production of axions suggest some benchmark axion mass ranges near $m_a \sim 20$ $\mu$eV. For such axion mass, the…
It is difficult to construct a post-inflation QCD axion model that solves the axion quality problem (and hence the Strong CP problem) without introducing a cosmological disaster. In a post-inflation axion model, the axion field value is…
We propose using the ultra-narrow 88 keV M\"ossbauer transition in $^{109}$Ag to search for QCD axion dark matter. The sub-eV axion field oscillates coherently, inducing a time-varying effective $\bar{\theta}_{\rm QCD}$ angle. This, in…
The cosmological QCD transition affects primordial density perturbations. If the QCD transition is first order, the sound speed vanishes during the transition and density perturbations fall freely. For scales below the Hubble radius at the…
With the advent of precision data, cosmology has become an extremely powerful tool for probing particle physics. The prime example of this is the cosmological bound on light neutrino masses. Here I review the current status of cosmological…
Axions are candidates for dark matter in the universe.We develop an accurate Boltzmann code to calculate the linear growth of the plasma. As an interesting example, we investigate a mixed dark matter model consisting of cold dark matter…
We study the possibility of explaining the late time acceleration with an axion field which is coupled with the dark matter sector of the energy budget of the Universe. The axion field arises from the Ramond-Ramond sector of the Type-IIB…
I describe how the QCD vacuum structure, necessary to resolve the $U(1)_A$ problem, predicts the presence of a P, T and CP violating term proportional to the vacuum angle $\bar{\theta}$. To agree with experimental bounds, however, this…
We present updated constraints on dark matter models with momentum-dependent or velocity-dependent interactions with nuclei, based on direct detection and solar physics. We improve our previous treatment of energy transport in the solar…
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…
Axions currently provide the most compelling solution to the strong CP problem. These particles may be copiously produced in the early universe, including via thermal processes. Therefore, relic axions constitute a hot dark matter component…
We examine in the context of supersymmetric models whether the usual cosmological upper bound on the axion decay constant can be relaxed by assuming a period of stronger QCD in the early universe. By evaluating the axion potential in the…
QCD corrections to the electron positron annihilation cross-section into hadrons and to the hadronic $Z$ boson decay rate are reviewed. Formal developments are introduced in a form particularly suited for practical applications. These…