Related papers: Glimmers from the Axiverse
Light moduli fields in string compactifications can have interesting implications for particle physics and cosmology. Fifth force bounds impose stringent constraints on the interactions of such moduli with the visible sector. To be…
We show that the strong CP problem is solved in a large class of compactifications of string theory. The Peccei-Quinn mechanism solves the strong CP problem if the CP-breaking effects of the ultraviolet completion of gravity and of QCD are…
It is well-known that Scherk-Schwarz compactifications in string theory have a tachyon in the closed string spectrum appearing for a critical value of a compact radius. The tachyon can be removed by an appropriate orientifold projection in…
We study early and late time signatures of both QCD axion strings and hyperlight axion strings (axiverse strings). We focus on charge deposition onto axion strings from electromagnetic fields and subsequent novel neutralizing mechanisms due…
Scherk-Schwarz compactification in string theory can be defined as orbifolding by an R symmetry, a symmetry that acts differently on bosons and fermions. Such a symmetry can arise in many situations, including toroidal and orbifold…
Type II string compactifications to 4d generically contain massless Ramond-Ramond U(1) gauge symmetries. However there is no massless matter charged under these U(1)'s, which makes a priori difficult to measure any physical consequences of…
Dark matter axion condensates may experience stimulated decays into photon pairs. This effect has been often interpreted as a parametric resonance of photons from the axion-photon coupling, leading to an exponential growth of the photon…
We illustrate, taking a top-down point of view, how axions and other very weakly interacting sub-eV particles (WISPs) arise in the course of compactification of the extra spatial dimensions in string/M-theory.
Different compactifications of six-dimensional string theory on $M_4 \times T^2$ are considered. Particular attention is given to the roles of the reduced modes as the $S$ and $T$ fields. It is shown that there is a discrete group of…
We examine the effects of the axion coupling to $R\tilde{R}$ on the evolution of cosmic structures. It is shown that the evolutions of the scalar- and vector-type perturbations are not affected by this axion coupling. However the axion…
We present some bottom-up motivations of axions and other weakly interacting sub-eV particles (WISPs) coupling to photons. Typically, these light particles are strongly constrained by their production or interaction in astrophysical and…
We describe type IIB compactifications with varying coupling constant in d=6,7,8,9 dimensions, where part of the ten-dimensional SL(2,Z) symmetry is broken by a background with Gamma_0(n) or Gamma(n) monodromy for n=2,3,4. This extends the…
We study possibilities for lowering the decay constants of superstring axions. In the heterotic Calabi-Yau compactification, a localized model-dependent axion can appear at a nearly collapsing 2-cycle. The effect of flux can be used for…
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…
We consider flux compactifications of type IIB string theory and F-theory in which the respective superpotentials at large complex structure are dominated by cubic or quartic terms in the complex structure moduli. In this limit, the…
Extra "hidden" U(1) gauge factors are a generic feature of string theory that is of particular phenomenological interest. They can kinetically mix with the Standard Model photon and are thereby accessible to a wide variety of astrophysical…
If $X$ and $Y$ are a mirror pair of Calabi--Yau threefolds, mirror symmetry should extend to an isomorphism between the type IIA string theory compactified on $X$ and the type IIB string theory compactified on $Y$, with all nonperturbative…
Recent work has shown the utility of examining background effects from ultralight dark matter on precision measurements. This effect enhances seemingly benign contributions to the level that experiments are sensitive to them. In this work,…
We argue that there are both experimental and theoretical reasons to reconsider the construction of KSVZ-like axion models. From the experimental side, predictions for the axion-photon coupling are not consistent with the collection of…
A system of light axions comprising a classical axion field, one candidate for dark matter, has an instability that would rapidly mix in photon pairs in a coherent fashion if the system were initially seeded by some tiny amount of such…