Related papers: Superheavy Dark Matter from the String Theory Axiv…
We present a solution to the cosmological problem encountered in (supersymmetric) grand unified theories due to copious monopole production at the end of hybrid inflation. By employing thermal inflation ``driven'' by the U(1) axion…
Models that produce Axion-Like-Particles (ALP) after cosmological inflation due to spontaneous $U(1)$ symmetry breaking also produce cosmic string networks. Those axionic strings lose energy through gravitational wave emission during the…
We present a string-based picture of the cosmological evolution in which (CP-violating) gravitational anomalies acting during the inflationary phase of the universe cause the vacuum energy density to "run" with the effective Hubble…
The longitudinal mode of a massive vector field, generated during inflation, offers a well-motivated and phenomenologically rich candidate for dark matter. We show that a rapid variation in the mass of the vector boson, occurring during a…
The search for cosmic strings has been of renewed interest with the advent of precision cosmology. In this note we give a quantitative description of the nonlinear matter density fluctuations that can form from a scaling network of cosmic…
Axions predicted in string theory may have a scalar potential which has a much shallower potential region than the conventional cosine potential. We first show that axions which were located at such shallow potential regions generically…
We perform an extensive analysis of the statistics of axion masses and interactions in compactifications of type IIB string theory, and we show that black hole superradiance excludes some regions of Calabi-Yau moduli space. Regardless of…
In supersymmetric theories, the presence of axions usually implies the existence of a non-compact, (pseudo)moduli space. In gauge mediated models, the axion would seem a particularly promising dark matter candidate. The cosmology of the…
I propose a reinterpretation of cosmic dark matter in which a rigid network of cosmic strings formed at the end of inflation. The cosmic strings fulfill three functions: At recombination they provide an accretion mechanism for virializing…
Recently it has been suggested that dark radiation in the form of axions produced during the decay of string theory moduli fields could be responsible for the soft x-ray excess in galaxy clusters. These soft X-ray photons come about due to…
Axion-like fields are naturally generated by a mechanism of anomaly cancellation of one or more anomalous gauge abelian symmetries at the Planck scale, emerging as duals of a two-form from the massless bosonic sector of string theory. This…
We study the mirror world with dark matter arising from the thermal freeze-out of the lightest, stable mirror particle -- the mirror electron. The dark matter abundance is achieved for mirror electrons of mass 225 GeV, fixing the mirror…
String theory generically predicts the coupling between the Affleck-Dine field and axion field through higher-dimensional operators. We thus explore the Affleck-Dine baryogenesis on an axion background. It turns out that the axion…
An axion rotating in field space can produce dark photons in the early universe via tachyonic instability. This explosive particle production creates a background of stochastic gravitational waves that may be visible at pulsar timing arrays…
We consider how QCD axions produced by the misalignment mechanism could form galactic dark matter halos. We recall that stationary, gravitationally stable axion field configurations have the size of an asteroid with masses of order…
In the context of the field theory limit of superstrings, we consider an almost realistic model of supersymmetry breaking by gaugino condensation which includes, through nonperturbative corrections to the K\"ahler potential, dilaton…
Ultra-light axions are viable fuzzy/wave-like dark matter ($\psi $DM) candidates generically predicted by the String Axiverse paradigm with multiple particle copies, whereas most of the discussions/constraints on $\psi $DM from astronomical…
Recent BICEP2 detection of low-multipole B-mode polarization anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background radiation supports the inflationary universe scenario and suggests a large inflaton field range. The latter feature can be achieved…
The next generation of axion direct detection experiments may rule out or confirm axions as the dominant source of dark matter. We develop a general likelihood-based framework for studying the time-series data at such experiments, with a…
For the minimal QCD axion model it is generally believed that overproduction of dark matter constrains the axion mass to be above a certain threshold, or at least that the initial misalignment angle must be tuned if the mass is below that…