Related papers: Glimmers from the Axiverse
In this proceedings article we present a selected set of our lattice results regarding the effect that background electromagnetic fields have on the topology of QCD. In particular, we report on the lattice spacing-dependence of the…
String theory compactifications may generate many light axion-like particles (ALPs) with weak couplings to electromagnetism. In general, a large number of ALPs may exist, with a linear combination having a potentially observable coupling to…
The axion search experiments invite a plausible estimation of the axion--photon--photon coupling constant $\overline{c}_{a\gamma\gamma}$ in string models with phenomenologically acceptable visible sectors. We present the calculation of…
We present an explicit embedding of axionic N-flation in type IIB string compactifications where most of the Kahler moduli are stabilised by perturbative effects, and so are hierarchically heavier than the corresponding N >> 1 axions whose…
We perform a detailed analysis of the phenomenological properties of hidden Abelian gauge bosons with a kinetic mixing with the ordinary photon within type IIB flux compactifications. We study the interplay between moduli stabilisation and…
We use the linear supermultiplet formalism of supergravity to study axion couplings and chiral anomalies in the context of field-theoretical Lagrangians describing orbifold compactifications beyond the classical approximation. By matching…
We consider the coupling of axions to gauge bosons in higher-dimensional Grand Unified Theories (GUT) inspired by string theory constructions with D-branes on orbifold singularities, the so-called orbifold GUTs. Due to their topological…
We present the supernova constraints on an axion-photon-dark photon coupling, which can be the leading coupling to dark sector models and can also lead to dramatic changes to axion cosmology. We show that the supernova bound on this…
The main motivation for our work has been a puzzling observation concerning quasars. No one expected the existence of correlations in the polarisation of visible light coming from objects separated by gigaparsecs, until they were first…
Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interactions within the Standard Model of particle physics, which explains more than 99% of the mass of the visible Universe. However, there is evidence that a substantial portion of…
We review the case for light U(1) gauge bosons in the hidden-sector of heterotic and type II string compactifications, present estimates of the size of their kinetic mixing with the visible-sector hypercharge U(1), and discuss their…
We examine the large volume compactification of Type IIB string theory or its F theory limit and the associated supersymmetry breakdown and soft terms. It is crucial to incorporate the loop-induced moduli mixing, originating from radiative…
Polarization measurements of thermal radiation from magnetic white dwarf (MWD) stars have been proposed as a probe of axion-photon mixing. The radiation leaving the surface of the MWD is unpolarized, but if low-mass axions exist then…
We study the spectrum, couplings and cosmological and astrophysical implications of the moduli fields for the class of Calabi-Yau IIB string compactifications for which moduli stabilisation leads to an exponentially large volume V ~ 10^{15}…
We study compactifications of the $N=2$ 6D tensionless string on various complex two-folds down to two-dimensions. In the IR limit they become non-trivial conformal field theories in 2D. Using results of Vafa and Witten on the partition…
String theory axions appear to be promising candidates for explaining cosmological constant via quintessence. In this paper, we study conditions on the string compactifications under which axion quintessence can happen. For sufficiently…
We argue that a new type of extremely light axion is generically present in the type IIB part of the string theory landscape. Its mass is suppressed by the third power of the warp factor of a strongly warped region (Klebanov-Strassler…
Discrete symmetries allowed in string compactification are the mother of all global symmetries which are broken at some level. We discuss the resulting pseudo-Goldstone bosons, in particular the QCD axion and a temporary cosmological…
If nature is described by string theory, and if the compactification radius is large (as suggested by the unification of couplings), then the theory is in a regime best described by the low energy limit of $M$-theory. We discuss some…
String theory realisations of the QCD axion are often said to belong to the anthropic window where the decay constant is around the GUT scale and the initial misalignment angle has to be tuned close to zero. In this paper we revisit this…