Related papers: A Quintessential Axion
Despite its dominance in the present universe's energy budget, dark energy is the least understood component in the universe. Although there is a popular model for the dynamical dark energy, the quintessence scalar, the investigation is…
In N=1 supergravity the scalar potential of the hidden sector may have degenerate supersymmetric (SUSY) and non-supersymmetric Minkowski vacua. In this case local SUSY in the second supersymmetric Minkowski phase can be broken dynamically.…
We give an explicit realization of the "String Axiverse" discussed in Arvanitaki et. al \cite{Arvanitaki:2009fg} by extending our previous results on moduli stabilization in $M$ theory to include axions. We extend the analysis of…
We present a scale invariant extension of the Standard model allowing for the Kim-Shifman-Vainstein-Zakharov (KSVZ) axion solution of the strong CP problem in QCD. We add the minimal number of new particles and show that the Peccei-Quinn…
We study the contribution to the QCD axion dark matter abundance that is produced by string defects during the so-called scaling regime. Clear evidence of scaling violations is found, the most conservative extrapolation of which strongly…
Using the effective potential approach for composite operators we have formulated the quantum model of the QCD vacuum. It is based on the existence and importance of the nonperturbative $q^{-4}$-type dynamical, topologically nontrivial…
If nature is described by string theory, and if the compactification radius is large (as suggested by the unification of couplings), then the theory is in a regime best described by the low energy limit of $M$-theory. We discuss some…
We analyze the strong CP problem and the implications for axion physics in the context of $U_1$ vector leptoquark models, recently put forward as an elegant solution to the hints of lepton flavor universality violation in B-meson decays. It…
The Axion Weak Gravity Conjecture provides one of the most effective quantum gravity tools for constraining particle physics and cosmology, but it has long been thought of as a slightly fuzzy statement: given an axion with decay constant…
In this talk we present a model of the universe in which dark energy is modelled explicitely with both a dynamical quintessence field and a cosmological constant. Our results confirm the possibility of a collapsing universe (for a given…
Metastable cosmic strings provide a minimal and predictive origin for the stochastic gravitational-wave background reported by Pulsar Timing Array experiments. We analyse this possibility in electroweak-like dark sectors with a single-stage…
In this paper, we revisit a scale-invariant extension of the standard model (SM) with a strongly interacting hidden sector within AdS/QCD approach. Using the AdS/QCD, we reduce the number of input parameters to three, {\it i.e.} hidden pion…
I briefly review the cosmological constant problem and the issue of dark energy (or quintessence). Within the framework of quantum field theory, the vacuum expectation value of the energy momentum tensor formally diverges as $k^4$. A cutoff…
The QCD axion is a well-motivated addition to the standard model to solve the strong $C\!P$ problem. If the axion acquires mass dominantly from a hidden sector, it can be as heavy as $O(1)$ GeV, and the decay constant can be as low as…
We discuss a new model of quintessence in which the quintessence field is identified with the extra-component of a gauge field in a compactified five-dimensional theory. We show that the extremely tiny energy scale $\sim (3\times 10^{-3}…
The decay constants of pseudoscalar and vector heavy-light mesons are calculated in the framework of the relativistic quark model with the completely relativistic treatment of the light quark. It is argued that relativistic effects play a…
We explore the possibility that our universe's current accelerated expansion is explained by a quintessence model with an exponential scalar potential, $V =V_0\, e^{-\lambda\, \phi}$, keeping an eye towards $\lambda \geq \sqrt{2}$ and an…
In the large N_c limit, the variables required to analyze the low energy structure of QCD in the framework of an effective field theory necessarily include the degrees of freedom of the eta'. We evaluate the decay constants of the…
We consider here the vacuum structure in QCD with both quark and gluon condensates and a variational ansatz for the ground state. The method is nonperturbative using only equal time algebra for the field operators. We then find that a…
Quintessence is a canonical scalar field introduced to explain the late-time cosmic acceleration. The cosmological dynamics of quintessence is reviewed, paying particular attention to the evolution of the dark energy equation of state w.…