Related papers: Axion potential, topological defects and CP-odd bu…
Considerable theoretical efforts have gone into expanding the reach of the QCD axion beyond its canonical mass--decay-constant relation. The $Z_\mathcal{N}$ QCD axion model reduces the QCD axion mass naturally, by invoking a discrete…
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…
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…
If there is explicit violation of baryon plus lepton number at some energy scale, then the electroweak theory depends upon a {\theta}-angle. Due to a singular integration over small scale size instantons, this {\theta}-dependence is…
The possibility of the "invisible" axion being cold dark matter relies on the acceptable estimates of the current axion energy density. The estimate depends on the nature of QCD phase transition at a few hundred MeV and the evolution of the…
We study the cosmology of complex multi-axion theories. With O(100) fields and GUT scale energies these theories contain a vast number of vacua, inflationary trajectories and a natural dark matter candidate. We demonstrate that the vacua…
We study a number of different ingredients related to the $\theta$ dependence, metastable excited vacuum states and other related subjects using a simplified version of QCD, the so-called "deformed QCD". This model is a weakly coupled gauge…
Proposed half a century ago, the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion explains the lack of charge and parity violation in the strong interactions and is a compelling candidate for cold dark matter. The last decade has seen the rapid…
The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle postulated by the Peccei-Quinn theory to resolve the strong CP problem in QCD. If axions exist and have low mass, they are a candidate for dark matter as well. So far our knowledge of the…
Testing the cosmological variation of fundamental constants of Nature can provide valuable insights into new physics scenarios. While many such constraints have been derived for Standard Model coupling constants and masses, the $\bar\theta$…
We derive two features of axion cosmology that may have cosmological implications, whether or not axions are dark matter: For the full range of allowed axion masses, the evolution of a cosmic axion background allows large CP violation until…
A popular proposal for resolving the Hubble tension involves an early phase of dark energy, driven by an axion field with a periodic potential. In this paper, we argue that these models are tightly constrained by the axion weak gravity…
The dark dimension scenario, which is motivated from Swampland principles and predicts a single micron scale extra dimension, suggests a consistent framework for the dark sector of the universe. We consider the implications of this scenario…
We show that axion phenomenology may be significantly different than conventionally assumed in theories which exhibit late phase transitions (below the QCD scale). In such theories one can find multiple pseudoscalars with axion-like…
The Strong CP Problem and its resolution through the existence of an axion are briefly reviewed. The combined constraints from accelerator searches, the evolution of red giants and the duration of the SN 1987a neutrino pulse require the…
The physical origin of the strong CP problem in QCD, rooted in the structures of the vacuum of the standard model, is reviewed. The chiral solution to this problem, with its accompanying axion, is explained and various characteristics of…
The complex field $\Phi$ containing the QCD axion has a natural portal coupling to the Higgs doublet of the form $\lambda_{h \phi}|\Phi|^2 |H|^2$. Here we consider the possibility that $\lambda_{h \phi}$ has a natural magnitude for a…
Among solutions of the strong CP problem, the "invisible" axion in the narrow axion window is argued to be the remaining possibility among natural solutions on the smallness of $\bar{\theta}$. Related to the gravity spoil of global…
It is suggested that the true ground state of the world has exactly vanishing vacuum energy and that the cosmological constant that seems to have been observed is due to our region of the universe being stuck in a false vacuum, whose energy…
We introduce and study a model designed to simultaneously shed light on the mysteries connected with Baryogenesis, Dark Matter and Dark Energy. The model describes a self-interacting complex axion field whose imaginary part, a pseudo-scalar…