Related papers: QCD Axion Strings or Seeds?
The properties of a helix-like shaped QCD string are studied in the context of the Lund fragmentation model, where the concept of a 3-dimensional structure of the gluon field offers an alternative aproach to the modelling of the transverse…
In hidden sector models with an extra U(1) gauge group, new fields can interact with the Standard Model only through gauge kinetic mixing and the Higgs portal. After the U(1) is spontaneously broken, these interactions couple the resultant…
We study the cosmological implications of the minimal non-linear realisation of scale invariance within the Standard Model (SM). This framework provides a technically natural explanation for the hierarchy between the Planck scale and the…
In this letter we consider the distinctive phenomenology of supersymmetric models in which the scale of SUSY breaking is very low, \sqrt{F}= O(TeV), focusing on the Higgs sector and the process of electroweak breaking. Using an effective…
Strings at T ~ T_c are known to be subject to the so-called Hagedorn phenomenon, in which a string's entropy (times T) and energy cancel each other and result in the evolution of the string into highly excited states, or "string balls".…
We consider the monopole-antimonopole static potential in the confining phase of the Abelian Higgs model and in particular the corrections to the Coulomb-like potential at small distances r. By minimizing numerically the classical energy…
An axion can make the electroweak phase transition strongly first-order as required for electroweak baryogenesis even if it is weakly coupled to the Higgs sector. This is essentially because the axion periodicity naturally allows the…
We study the possibility that the axion Peccei-Quinn symmetry is spontaneously broken after the beginning of inflation. This scenario interpolates between pre-inflationary and post-inflationary axion cosmology with significant…
The standard electroweak theory admits a string solution, the Z string, in which only the electrically neutral Higgs fields are excited. This solution is unstable at zero temperature: Z strings decay by exciting charged Higgs modes. In the…
A common framework of particle physics consists of two sectors of particles, such as the Standard Model and a dark sector, with some interaction between them. In this work, we initiate the study of a qualitatively different setup in which…
Electroweak symmetry can be naturally broken by observed quark and gauge fields in various extra-dimensional configurations. No new {\it fundamental} fields are required below the quantum gravitational scale ($\sim$ 10 - 100 TeV). We…
Axion models with generation-dependent Peccei-Quinn charges can lead to flavor-changing neutral currents, thus motivating QCD axion searches at precision flavor experiments. We rigorously derive limits on the most general effective…
The Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry does not need to be exact, and even a tiny source of PQ breaking not aligned with the QCD anomaly might have significant phenomenological implications. In this study, we examine the effects of a general class…
The axion is much lighter than all other degrees of freedom introduced by the Peccei-Quinn mechanism to solve the strong CP problem. It is therefore natural to use an effective field theory (EFT) to describe its interactions. Loop processes…
A first-order Electroweak Phase Transition (EWPT) could explain the observed baryon-antibaryon asymmetry and its dynamics could yield a detectable gravitational wave signature, while the underlying physics would be within the reach of…
We consider the effect of the presence of a hypermagnetic field at the electroweak phase transition. Screening of the Z-component inside a bubble of the broken phase delays the phase transition and makes it stronger first order. We show…
In supersymmetric scenarios with a low scale of SUSY breaking [sqrt{F}=O(TeV)] the conventional MSSM Higgs sector can be substantially modified, mainly because the Higgs potential contains additional effective quartic terms. The Higgs…
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,…
Any would-be Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is vulnerable to various types of explicit breaking. It has long been recognized that these can disrupt the axion solution to the strong CP problem. There have also been suggestions that, under…
We consider QCD axion models where the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is badly broken by a larger amount in the past than in the present, in order to avoid the axion isocurvature problem. Specifically we study supersymmetric axion models where the…