No Arabic abstract
The domain wall problem and the isocurvature problem restrict possible combinations of axion models and inflation models. In this paper, we considered a new mechanism which solves those problems by dynamics of multiple scalar fields during/after inflation. The mechanism makes axion models with a non-trivial domain wall number compatible with inflation models with a large Hubble parameter, $H_{I} gg 10^{7mbox{-}8},$GeV. The mechanism also avoids the isocurvature problem. This mechanism increases the freedom of choice of combinations of axion models and inflation models.
Axion is a promising candidate of dark matter. After the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking, axion strings are formed and attached by domain walls when the temperature of the universe becomes comparable to the QCD scale. Such objects can cause cosmological disasters if they are long-lived. As a solution for it, the Lazarides-Shafi mechanism is often discussed through introduction of a new non-Abelian (gauge) symmetry. We study this mechanism in detail and show configuration of strings and walls. Even if Abelian axion strings with a domain wall number greater than one are formed in the early universe, each of them is split into multiple Alice axion strings due to a repulsive force between the Alice strings even without domain wall. When domain walls are formed as the universe cools down, a single Alice string can be attached by a single wall because a vacuum is connected by a non-Abelian rotation without changing energy. Even if an Abelian axion string attached by domain walls are created due to the Kibble Zurek mechanism at the chiral phase transition, such strings are also similarly split into multiple Alice strings attached by walls in the presence of the domain wall tension. Such walls do not form stable networks since they collapse by the tension of the walls, emitting axions.
In our previous work, we found new types of the cosmic string solutions in the Abelian-Higgs model with an enhanced $U(1)$ global symmetry. We dubbed those solutions as the compensated/uncompensated strings. The compensated string is similar to the conventional cosmic string in the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen (ANO) string, around which only the would-be Nambu-Goldstone (NG) boson winds. Around the uncompensated string, on the other hand, the physical NG boson also winds, where the physical NG boson is associated with the spontaneous breaking of the enhanced symmetry. Our previous simulation in the 2+1 dimensional spacetime confirmed that both the compensated/uncompensated strings are formed at the phase transition of the symmetry breaking. Non-trivial winding of the physical NG boson around the strings potentially causes the so-called axion domain-wall problem when the model is applied to the axion model. In this paper, we perform simulation in the 3+1 dimensional spacetime to discuss the fate of the uncompensated strings. We observe that the evolution of the string-network is highly complicated in the 3+1 dimensional simulation compared with that seen in the previous simulation. Despite such complications, we find that the number of the uncompensated strings which could cause can be highly suppressed at late times. Our observation suggests that the present setup can be applied to the axion model without suffering from the axion domain-wall problem.
We discuss a possibility that the domain wall problem in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model is alleviated without introducing a small explicit $Z_3$ breaking term by analyzing the evolution of the singlet scalar field within an inflationary paradigm. The singlet scalar field which explains the $mu$-term tracks a time-varying minimum of the effective potential after inflation and slowly rolls down to its global minimum if there exist sufficiently large negative Hubble-induced corrections on the effective potential for the singlet field, which arise through supergravity. As a consequence, the whole Universe is confined within a single domain during and after inflation, which prevents the formation of domain walls. This will further constrain the history of the early Universe along with the Higgs-singlet coupling.
Discrete flavor symmetry is often introduced for explaining quark/lepton masses and mixings. However, its spontaneous breaking leads to the appearance of domain walls, which is problematic for cosmology. We consider a possibility that the discrete flavor symmetry is anomalous under the color SU(3) so that it splits the energy levels of degenerate discrete vacua as a solution to the domain wall problem. We find that in most known models of flavor symmetry, the QCD anomaly effect can only partially remove the degeneracy and there still remain degenerate vacua.
Electromagnetic waves in a dynamical axion background exhibit superluminal group velocities at high frequencies and instabilities at low frequencies, altering how photons propagate through space. Local disturbances propagate causally, but unlike in ordinary Maxwell theory, propagation occurs inside as well as on the lightcone. For the unstable modes, the energy density in the electromagnetic field grows exponentially along timelike displacements. In this paper we derive retarded Green functions in axion electrodynamics in various limits and study the time-domain properties of propagating signals.