Related papers: Can Strong QCD in the Early Universe Raise the Axi…
We examine in the context of supersymmetric models whether the usual cosmological upper bound on the axion decay constant can be relaxed by assuming a period of stronger QCD in the early universe. By evaluating the axion potential in the…
Various authors have noted that in particular models, the upper bound on the axion decay constant may not hold. We point out that within supersymmetry, this is a generic issue. For large decay constants, the cosmological problems associated…
We argue that the QCD axion can arise from many aligned axions with decay constants much smaller than the conventional axion window. If the typical decay constant is of {\cal O}{(100)} GeV to 1 TeV, one or more of the axions or saxions may…
In supersymmetric theories, the Peccei-Quinn symmetry has a complex extension as a symmetry of the superpotential, so that the scalar potential always has an almost flat direction, the dilaton. We discuss how coherent oscillation of the…
A QCD axion with a decay constant below $ 10 ^{ 11} ~{\rm GeV} $ is a strongly-motivated extension to the Standard Model, though its relic abundance from the misalignment mechanism or decay of cosmic defects is insufficient to explain the…
We present a new mechanism to deplete the energy density of the QCD axion, making decay constants as high as $f_a \simeq 10^{17}\,\rm{GeV}$ viable for generic initial conditions. In our setup, the axion couples to a massless dark photon…
Current upper bounds of the neutron electric dipole moment constrain the physically observable quantum chromodynamic (QCD) vacuum angle $|\bar\theta| \lesssim 10^{-11}$. Since QCD explains vast experimental data from the 100 MeV scale to…
A QCD axion with a time-dependent decay constant has been known to be able to accommodate high-scale inflation without producing topological defects or too large isocurvature perturbations on CMB scales. We point out that a dynamical decay…
The QCD axion has important connections to early universe cosmology. For example, it is often said that isocurvature limits rule out a combination of high axion decay constant, $f_a$, and high inflationary Hubble scale, $H_I$. High scales…
The mass of the axion and its decay rate are known to depend only on the scale of Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking, which is constrained by astrophysics and cosmology to be between $10^9$ and $10^{12}$ GeV. We propose a new mechanism such…
The QCD axion solving the strong CP problem may originate from antisymmetric tensor gauge fields in compactified string theory, with a decay constant around the GUT scale. Such possibility appears to be ruled out now by the detection of…
The QCD axion is one of the most compelling solutions of the strong CP problem. There are major current efforts into searching for an ultralight, invisible axion, which is believed to be the only phenomenologically viable realization of the…
Strongly-coupled theories at the TeV can naturally drive a long period of supercooling in the early universe. Trapped into the deconfined phase, the universe could inflate and cool down till the temperature reaches the QCD strong scale. We…
We study the cosmological evolution of the QCD axion coupled to hidden photons. For a moderately strong coupling, the motion of the axion field leads to an explosive production of hidden photons by tachyonic instability. We use lattice…
The QCD axion is one of the best motivated dark matter candidates. The misalignment mechanism is well known to produce an abundance of the QCD axion consistent with dark matter for an axion decay constant of order $10^{12}$ GeV. For a…
A strong primordial magnetic field can induce a relaxation of the present bound on the PQ-constant. We show that, considering the present limits on primordial magnetic fields, a value for the PQ-constant very close to the GUT scale is not…
Several theoretical motivations point to ultralight QCD axions with large decay constants $f_a \simeq \mathcal{O}(10^{16}-10^{17})$ GeV, to which experimental proposals are dedicated. This regime is known to face the problem of…
There has been an attempt to revive the visible QCD axion at the 10 MeV scale assuming that it exclusively couples to the first-generation quarks and the electron. This variant of the QCD axion is claimed to remain phenomenologically…
The QCD axion is a good dark matter candidate. The observed dark matter abundance can arise from misalignment or defect mechanisms, which generically require an axion decay constant $f_a \sim \mathcal{O}(10^{11})$ GeV (or higher). We…
In theories of axion dark matter with large axion decay constant, temperature variations in the CMB are extremely sensitive to perturbations in the initial axion field, allowing one to place a lower bound on the total amount of inflation.…