Related papers: Gravitational waves from the Axiverse
The QCD axion can successfully solve the strong CP problem under the condition that the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is respected to extremely high standard. We explore a class of gauge theories that accommodate a high-quality axion, known as the…
Domain wall annihilation can leave a distinctive imprint on the induced gravitational wave spectrum. During annihilation, most of the domain wall energy transforms into the scalar field responsible for the initial $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry…
It is widely believed that axions are ubiquitous in string theory and could be the dark matter. The peculiar features of the axion dark matter are coherent oscillations and a coupling to the electromagnetic field through the Chern-Simons…
String theory posesses numerous axion candidates. The recent realization that the compactification radius in string theory might be large means that these states can solve the strong CP problem. This still leaves the question of the…
We discuss the possible sources of dark matter axions in the early universe. In the standard thermal scenario, an axion string network forms at the Peccei-Quinn phase transition $T\sim \fa$ and then radiatively decays into a cosmological…
Cosmic strings formed when the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaks post-inflation are expected to emit axions throughout their lifetime. The details of the evolution of this network and the associated spectrum of axions are crucial for obtaining…
Particle emission, in addition to gravitational radiation from cosmic string loops, affects the resulting loop distribution and hence the corresponding observational consequences of cosmic strings. Here we focus on two models in which loops…
We discuss the gravitational wave spectrum produced by first-order phase transitions seeded by domain wall networks. This setup is important for many two-step phase transitions as seen for example in the singlet extension of the standard…
We consider a simple extension of Standard Model by adding two complex singlet scalars with a $\rm{U}\left(1\right)$ symmetry. A discrete $\mathcal{Z}_2 \times \mathcal{Z}^{\prime}_2$ symmetry is imposed in the model and the added scalars…
Axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) are a prominent dark matter candidate, drawing motivation in part from the axiverse of string theory. Axion-like particles can also arise as composite degrees of freedom of a dark sector, for example,…
Axions have for some time been considered a plausible candidate for dark matter. They can be produced through misalignment, but it has been argued that when inflation occurs before a Peccei-Quinn transition, appreciable production can…
Several Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) collaborations have recently reported the evidence for a stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB), which can unveil the formation of primordial seeds of inhomogeneities in the early universe. With…
Cosmic strings are predicted in various extensions of the Standard Model, including grand unified theories. Depending on the symmetry-breaking pattern, they can be either topologically stable or metastable. Intriguingly, metastable strings…
Gravitational wave signatures from cosmic strings are analyzed numerically. Cosmic string networks form during phase transistions in the early universe and these networks of long cosmic strings break into loops that radiate energy in the…
Axions arise in many theoretical extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, in particular the "string axiverse". If the axion masses, $m_a$, and (effective) decay constants, $f_a$, lie in specific ranges, then axions contribute…
We review how axion-like particles (ALPs) naturally emerge in the low-energy effective field theory of string compactifications. We focus on the study of their mass spectrum and couplings, stressing that they depend on the mechanism used to…
Gravitational-wave (GW) signals offer a unique window into the dynamics of the early universe. GWs may be generated by the topological defects produced in the early universe, which contain information on the symmetry of UV physics. We…
In the wide variety of axion cosmologies in which axion strings form, their radiative decay is the dominant mechanism for the production of axions, imposing a tight constraint on the axion mass. Here, we focus on the mechanism by which…
Superstring theories are very promising theoretically, but the enormous landscape of string vacua and the (likely) very large underlying string scale imply that they may never be tested directly. Nevertheless, concrete constructions…
We propose heavy axions as a natural superheavy dark matter candidate in string theory, with the relic density of dark matter originating in quantum fluctuations during cosmic inflation. String Theory is well known for the possibility of…