Related papers: Falsifying Anthropics
We review the motivation for the axion as a solution of the strong CP puzzle and as a candidate for cold dark matter. Then we discuss benchmark axion models and present their predictions concerning axion couplings to the Standard Model and…
The axion, motivated as a solution to the strong CP problem, is also a viable dark matter candidate. We use N-body simulations to study the formation of substructures from white-noise density fluctuations. The density profiles of our…
Light Axionic Dark Matter, motivated by string theory, is increasingly favored for the "no-WIMP era". Galaxy formation is suppressed below a Jeans scale, of $\simeq 10^8 M_\odot$ by setting the axion mass to, $m_B \sim 10^{-22}$eV, and the…
The misalignment mechanism for axion-like particles (ALPs) is a leading explanation for dark matter. In this work we investigate ALPs with non-periodic potentials, which allow for large misalignment of the field from the minimum and make it…
We propose a new theory of dark matter based on axion physics and cosmological phase transitions. We show that theories in which a gauge coupling increases through a first-order phase transition naturally result in `axion relic pockets':…
In addition to spectacular signatures such as black hole superradiance and the rotation of CMB polarization, the plenitude of axions appearing in the string axiverse may have potentially dangerous implications. An example is the…
We explore the phenomenology of QCD axion and axion-like particle (ALP) dark matter production via misalignment during inflationary reheating. We investigate scenarios involving inflaton oscillating in a generic potential $\sim \phi^n$,…
It is quite well known for some time that string inspired axionic terms of the form $\nu (\phi)\tilde{R}R$, known also as Chern-Simons terms, do not affect the scalar perturbations and the background evolution for a flat…
We discuss axion dark matter detection via two mechanisms: spontaneous decays and resonant conversion in neutron star magnetospheres. For decays, we show that the brightness temperature signal, rather than flux, is a less ambiguous measure…
We study cosmological effects of explicit Peccei-Quinn breaking on the QCD axion dark matter. We find that the axion abundance decreases or increases significantly depending on the initial position, even for a tiny Peccei-Quinn breaking…
With the advent of new missions to probe spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background with unprecedented precision, the study of theoretical predictions of these signals becomes a promising avenue to test our description of the…
String scenarios generically predict that we live in a so called axiverse: the Universe with about a hundred of light axion species which are decoupled from the Standard Model particles. However, the axions can couple to the inflaton which…
Light (pseudo-)scalar fields are promising candidates to be the dark matter in the Universe. Under certain initial conditions in the early Universe and/or with certain types of self-interactions, they can form compact dark-matter objects…
Recently, two of the present authors showed that even when the axion momentum is much smaller than its mass, the axion can still behave like radiation if its energy density greatly exceeds the maximum potential energy set by the cosine-type…
The axion is particularly well motivated candidate for the dark matter comprising most of the mass of our visible Universe, leading to worldwide experimental and observational efforts towards its discovery. As is well known, resonant…
A dark matter overdensity around a black hole may significantly alter the dynamics of the black hole's merger with another compact object. We consider here intermediate mass-ratio inspirals of stellar-mass compact objects with…
The excess of electron recoil events seen by the XENON1T experiment has been interpreted as a potential signal of axion-like particles (ALPs), either produced in the Sun, or constituting part of the dark matter halo of the Milky Way. It has…
We present a model of $F(R)$ gravity in the presence of a string theory motivated misalignment axion like particle materialized in terms of a canonical scalar field minimally coupled with gravity, and we study the cosmological phenomenology…
We investigate the level-crossing phenomenon in two-axion systems, where the mass eigenvalues intersect as the mass of one axion increases with the cooling of the universe. This phenomenon can significantly alter the abundance of axions in…
Advances in high angular resolution astronomy make it conceivable that black hole dark matter could be detected via angular deviation effects. Assuming the dark matter in the galaxy is made of solar mass black holes, there is a non-trivial…