Related papers: String or M theory axion as a quintessence
We describe a simple toy model for quintessential inflation where a complex scalar field described by a lagrangian with a Peccei-Quinn U(1) symmetry spontaneously broken at a high energy scale and explicitly broken by instanton effects at a…
We show that in heterotic string theory -- and dual corners of the landscape including Type I string theory -- the QCD axion mass is bounded from below by $m_a \gtrsim 0.5$ neV, a direct consequence of the model-independent axion whose…
String and M-theory compactifications generically have compact moduli which can potentially act as the QCD axion. However, as demonstrated here, such a compact modulus can not play the role of a QCD axion and solve the strong CP problem if…
This is a short review of string cosmology. We wish to connect string-scale physics as closely as possible to observables accessible to current or near-future experiments. Our possible best hope to do so is a description of inflation in…
The mass-varying neutrino scenario is analyzed for three trial quintessence potentials (Ferreira-Joyce, inverse exponential, and thawing oscillating). The neutrino mass is generated via Yukawa coupling to the scalar field which represents…
Cosmic strings are predicted by many field-theory models, and may have been formed at a symmetry-breaking transition early in the history of the universe, such as that associated with grand unification. They could have important…
String theory/M-theory generally predicts that axionic fields with a broad mass spectrum extending below 10^{-10}eV are produced after compactification to four dimensions. These axions/fields provoke a rich variety of cosmophysical…
The dynamics of heavy quarkonium systems in the strong coupling regime reduces to a quantum mechanical problem with a number of potentials which may be organized in powers of 1/m, m being the heavy quark mass. The potentials must be…
We investigate the string solutions and cosmological implications of the gauge ${\rm U(1)_Z}\,\times$ global ${\rm U(1)_{PQ}}$ model. With two hierarchical symmetry-breaking scales, the model exhibits three distinct string solutions: a…
We consider, in a string theory framework, physical processes of phenomenological interest in models with a low string scale. The amplitudes we study involve tree-level virtual gravitational exchange, divergent in a field-theoretical…
We discuss inflation models within supersymmetry and supergravity frameworks with a landscape of chiral superfields and one $U(1)$ shift symmetry which is broken by non-perturbative symmetry breaking terms in the superpotential. We label…
We analyze $M$-theory compactified on $(K3\times S^1)/Z_2$ where the $Z_2$ changes the sign of the three form gauge field, acts on $S^1$ as a parity transformation and on K3 as an involution with eight fixed points preserving SU(2)…
A model of (3+1)-dimensional leptogenesis, proposed previously by the authors, requires a CPT Violating (CPTV) background of the Kalb-Ramond (KR) axion field. The KR axion is a pseudoscalar, which is dual to the field strength of the…
Natural (axionic) inflation provides a well-motivated and predictive scheme for the description of the early universe. It leads to sizeable primordial tensor modes and thus a high mass scale of the inflationary potential. Naively this seems…
We show that the cosmological abundance of string axions is much smaller than naive estimates if the Hubble scale of inflation, $H_{\rm inf}$, is sufficiently low (but can still be much higher than the axion masses) and if the inflation…
We explore the cosmological consequences of the superconductivity of QCD axion strings. Axion strings can support a sizeable chiral electric current and charge, which alters their early universe dynamics. Shrinking axion string loops can…
We begin with an effective string theory for long distance QCD, and evaluate the semiclassical expansion of this theory about a classical rotating string solution, taking into account the the dynamics of the boundary of the string. We show…
String cosmology aims at providing a reliable description of the very early Universe in the regime where standard-model physics is no longer appropriate, and where we can safely apply the basic ingredients of superstring models such as…
Should nature be supersymmetric, then it will be described by Quantum Supergravity at least in some energy regimes. The currently most advanced description of Quantum Supergravity and beyond is Superstring Theory/M-Theory in 10/11…
The weakly-coupled heterotic string is known to have problems of dilaton/moduli stabilization, supersymmetry breaking (by hidden-sector gaugino condensation), gauge coupling unification (or the Newton's constant), QCD axion, as well as…