skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Opening up the QCD axion window

Journal Article · · Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Center for Theoretical Physics

We present a new mechanism to deplete the energy density of the QCD axion, making decay constants as high as fa ≃ 1017 GeV viable for generic initial conditions. In our setup, the axion couples to a massless dark photon with a coupling that is moderately stronger than the axion coupling to gluons. Dark photons are produced copiously through a tachyonic instability when the axion field starts oscillating, and an exponential suppression of the axion density can be achieved. For a large part of the parameter space this dark radiation component of the universe can be observable in upcoming CMB experiments. Such dynamical depletion of the axion density ameliorates the isocurvature bound on the scale of inflation. The depletion also amplifies the power spectrum at scales that enter the horizon before particle production begins, potentially leading to axion miniclusters.

Research Organization:
Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012012; SC0012567; SC0015476
OSTI ID:
1499139
Journal Information:
Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Vol. 2018, Issue 3; ISSN 1029-8479
Publisher:
Springer BerlinCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 71 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (109)

Large field excursions and approximate discrete symmetries from a clockwork axion journal April 2016
Any light particle search II — Technical Design Report text January 2013
Cosmology of the invisible axion journal January 1983
The QCD axion, precisely journal January 2016
Revisiting the SN1987A gamma-ray limit on ultralight axion-like particles journal February 2015
Phenomenology of a pseudo-scalar inflaton: naturally large nongaussianity journal April 2011
WISPy cold dark matter journal June 2012
Can confinement ensure natural CP invariance of strong interactions? journal April 1980
Thermal axion production in the primordial quark-gluon plasma journal April 2011
Resonantly Detecting Axion-Mediated Forces with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance journal October 2014
Rolling axions during inflation: perturbativity and signatures journal September 2016
Dimensionless constants, cosmology, and other dark matters journal January 2006
String axiverse journal June 2010
Natural Inflation and Quantum Gravity journal April 2015
Gauge field production in axion inflation: Consequences for monodromy, non-Gaussianity in the CMB, and gravitational waves at interferometers journal January 2012
Broadband and Resonant Approaches to Axion Dark Matter Detection journal September 2016
Large-amplitude isothermal fluctuations and high-density dark-matter clumps journal July 1994
Constraints on Axion-like Particles from X-Ray Observations of NGC1275 text January 2017
Calculation of the axion mass based on high-temperature lattice quantum chromodynamics text January 2016
Discovering the QCD axion with black holes and gravitational waves journal April 2015
Axions in string theory journal June 2006
Constraints on axion-like particles from non-observation of spectral modulations for X-ray point sources journal July 2017
A clockwork theory journal February 2017
Calculation of the axion mass based on high-temperature lattice quantum chromodynamics journal November 2016
Effective Planck mass and the scale of inflation journal January 2016
Improved Experimental Limit on the Electric Dipole Moment of the Neutron journal September 2006
Any light particle search II — Technical Design Report journal September 2013
Naturally inflating on steep potentials through electromagnetic dissipation journal February 2010
Black holes and large N species solution to the hierarchy problem journal April 2010
First Results from a Microwave Cavity Axion Search at 24 μ eV journal February 2017
A cosmological bound on the invisible axion journal January 1983
Axion cosmology, lattice QCD and the dilute instanton gas text January 2015
Realizing the relaxion from multiple axions and its UV completion with high scale supersymmetry journal January 2016
Axion miniclusters journal April 1988
Cosmological 'seed' magnetic field from inflation journal May 1992
Axion thermalization in the early universe journal July 2002
A New Light Boson? journal January 1978
Dissipative axial inflation journal December 2016
On the possibility of large axion decay constants journal June 2003
Dilution of cosmological axions by entropy production journal December 1990
The not-so-harmless axion journal January 1983
Inflation and axion cosmology journal February 1988
Topological susceptibility at high temperature on the lattice journal September 2016
Supersymmetric axion grand unified theories and their predictions journal October 2016
Black hole mergers and the QCD axion at Advanced LIGO journal February 2017
Parity Conservation in Quantum Chromodynamics journal August 1984
Supersymmetry, axions, and cosmology journal October 2003
Problem of Strong P and T Invariance in the Presence of Instantons journal January 1978
Magnetogenesis from axion inflation journal October 2016
Reduced Limit on the Permanent Electric Dipole Moment of Hg 199 journal April 2016
Axion cosmology and the energy scale of inflation journal October 2008
Proposal for a Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment (CASPEr) journal May 2014
Extranatural Inflation journal June 2003
Revised experimental upper limit on the electric dipole moment of the neutron journal November 2015
Revisiting the Bound on Axion-Photon Coupling from Globular Clusters journal November 2014
Constraints on Axion-like Particles from X-Ray Observations of NGC1275 journal September 2017
Large Non-Gaussianity in Axion Inflation journal May 2011
Can decaying particles raise the upperbound on the Peccei-Quinn scale? journal September 1996
Gauge-preheating and the end of axion inflation journal December 2015
Suppressing the QCD axion abundance by hidden monopoles journal February 2016
CP Conservation in the Presence of Pseudoparticles journal June 1977
A new bound on axion-like particles journal December 2017
Weak-Interaction Singlet and Strong CP Invariance journal July 1979
A new bound on axion-like particles text January 2017
Saving the invisible axion journal September 1983
Axion cosmology, lattice QCD and the dilute instanton gas journal January 2016
Thermal axion production journal January 2014
Future directions in the microwave cavity search for dark matter axions journal July 2014
Axions, instantons, and the lattice journal November 2017
Towards the theory of reheating after inflation journal September 1997
The QCD axion and moduli stabilisation journal May 2006
Gauge fields and inflation: Chiral gravitational waves, fluctuations, and the Lyth bound journal July 2013
Relaxation from particle production journal December 2016
Lattice QCD input for axion cosmology journal August 2015
Constraints on axion-like particles from non-observation of spectral modulations for X-ray point sources text January 2017
Review of Particle Physics journal October 2016
SQUID-Based Microwave Cavity Search for Dark-Matter Axions journal January 2010
N-flationary magnetic fields journal October 2006
Completing natural inflation journal January 2005
Axion Cosmology and the Energy Scale of Inflation text January 2008
Naturally inflating on steep potentials through electromagnetic dissipation text January 2009
Thermal axion production in the primordial quark-gluon plasma text January 2010
Gauge Fields and Inflation: Chiral Gravitational Waves, Fluctuations and the Lyth Bound text January 2013
Any Light Particle Search II -- Technical Design Report text January 2013
Future Directions in the Microwave Cavity Search for Dark Matter Axions text January 2014
Discovering the QCD Axion with Black Holes and Gravitational Waves text January 2014
Natural Inflation and Quantum Gravity text January 2014
Gauge-preheating and the end of axion inflation text January 2015
Lattice QCD input for axion cosmology text January 2015
Effective Planck Mass and the Scale of Inflation text January 2015
Suppressing the QCD Axion Abundance by Hidden Monopoles text January 2015
Axion Isocurvature and Magnetic Monopoles text January 2015
Rolling axions during inflation: perturbativity and signatures text January 2016
Magnetogenesis from axion inflation text January 2016
Relaxation from particle production text January 2016
Dissipative Axial Inflation text January 2016
A Clockwork Theory text January 2016
Dark photon relic dark matter production through the dark axion portal text January 2017
Axions, Instantons, and the Lattice text January 2017
Was the Universe Actually Radiation Dominated Prior to Nucleosynthesis? text January 2017
Primordial Magnetic Fields from Dark Energy text January 2001
Dimensionless constants, cosmology and other dark matters text January 2005
An Improved Experimental Limit on the Electric Dipole Moment of the Neutron text January 2006
Can Decaying Particles Raise the Upperbound on the Peccei-Quinn Scale? text January 1995
On the Possibility of Large Axion Decay Constants text January 2003
The QCD Axion and Moduli Stabilisation text January 2006
The Cosmology of String Theoretic Axions text January 1996
Axion cold dark matter revisited journal January 2010
CDM models with a BSI steplike primordial spectrum and a cosmological constant text January 1997

Cited By (16)

Super-Planckian axions from near-conformality text January 2019
Implications of the dark axion portal for SHiP and FASER and the advantages of monophoton signals journal September 2019
Clockworking FIMPs journal October 2018
Super-Planckian axions from near-conformality journal November 2019
Extension of the electrodynamics in the presence of the axion and dark photon journal February 2019
Z ′ mediated WIMPs: dead, dying, or soon to be detected? journal November 2019
Dynamical axion misalignment with small instantons journal December 2019
Audible axions journal January 2019
Extension of the electrodynamics in the presence of the axion and dark photon text January 2018
Axion Cosmology with Early Matter Domination text January 2018
Coherent relaxion dark matter text January 2018
Parametric Resonance Production of Ultralight Vector Dark Matter text January 2018
Axion Misalignment Driven to the Bottom text January 2018
Design and Implementation of the ABRACADABRA-10 cm Axion Dark Matter Search text January 2019
$Z'$ Mediated WIMPs: Dead, Dying, or Soon to be Detected? text January 2019
Dynamical axion misalignment with small instantons text January 2019

Figures / Tables (4)


Similar Records

High-scale axions without isocurvature from inflationary dynamics
Journal Article · Tue May 31 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physical Review D · OSTI ID:1499139

Isocurvature bounds on axions revisited
Journal Article · Tue May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields · OSTI ID:1499139

Stochastic axion scenario
Journal Article · Thu Aug 09 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Physical Review. D. · OSTI ID:1499139