相关论文: Dynamical axion misalignment with small instantons
It is difficult to construct a post-inflation QCD axion model that solves the axion quality problem (and hence the Strong CP problem) without introducing a cosmological disaster. In a post-inflation axion model, the axion field value is…
The axion is the most attractive candidate to solve the strong CP problem in QCD. If it exists, the inflationary universe produces axion fluctuations which are mixtures of isocurvature and adiabatic fluctuations in general. We investigate…
The electric Weak Gravity Conjecture demands that axions with large decay constant $f$ couple to light instantons. The resulting large instantonic corrections pose problems for natural inflation. We explore an alternative argument based on…
String scenarios generically predict that we live in a so called axiverse: the Universe with about a hundred of light axion species which are decoupled from the Standard Model particles. However, the axions can couple to the inflaton which…
An axion-like inflaton coupled to non-Abelian gauge bosons provides a compelling microphysical framework for warm inflation. Starting even from cold initial conditions, in these systems, sphaleron heating may generate thermal friction…
Axions play a central role in many realizations of large field models of inflation and in recent alternative mechanisms for generating primordial tensor modes in small field models. If these axions couple to gauge fields, the coupling…
If the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is already broken during inflation, the decay constant $F_a$ of the axion can be in a wide region from $10^{11}$ GeV to $10^{18}$ GeV for the axion being the dominant dark matter. In this case, however, the…
The QCD axion needs not be an exact pseudoscalar for solving the strong CP problem. Its imperfectness can play a profound role cosmologically. We propose effective operators, where the Peccei-Quinn field linearly couples to Standard Model…
We propose a natural inflation model driven by an imaginary or axionic component of a K\"ahler modulus in string-inspired supergravity. The shift symmetry of the axion is gauged under an anomalous $U(1)_X$ symmetry, which leads to a…
We present a new framework of grand unification that is equipped with an axion solution to the strong CP problem without a domain wall problem when the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is spontaneously broken after inflation. Our grand unified…
We revisit the cosmological aspects of axion models. In the high-scale inflation scenario, the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is likely to be restored during/after inflation. If the curvature of the PQ scalar potential at the origin is smaller…
In this work, we propose a model of warm inflation driven by axion-like particles interacting with $U(1)$ gauge fields, with implications for the early universe's thermal evolution. By extending traditional warm inflation models, we…
We investigate the phenomenology of QCD axions and axionlike particles in a scenario with two eras of inflation. In particular, we describe the possible solutions for the QCD axion field equation after the second inflation and reheating. We…
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…
We examine the contribution of small instantons to the axion mass in various UV completions of QCD. We show that the reason behind the potential dominance of such contributions is the non-trivial embedding of QCD into the UV theory. The…
We present an effective model where the inflaton is a relaxion that scans the Higgs mass and sets it at the weak scale. The dynamics consist of a long epoch in which inflation is due to the shallow slope of the potential, followed by a few…
We suggest a new type of hill-top inflation originating from the initial conditions in the form of the microcanonical density matrix for the cosmological model with a large number of quantum fields conformally coupled to gravity. Initial…
We show that the QCD axion can drive inflation via a series of tunneling events. For axion models with a softly broken $Z_N$ symmetry, the axion potential has a series of $N$ local minima and may be modeled by a tilted cosine. Chain…
We discuss the issue of setting appropriate initial conditions for inflation. Specifically, we consider natural inflation model and discuss the fine tuning required for setting almost homogeneous initial conditions over a region of order…
This paper investigates the impact of small instanton effects on the axion mass in composite axion models. In particular, we focus on the Composite Accidental Axion (CAA) models, which are designed to address the axion quality problem, and…