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arXiv · 1810.02822

Axion Landscape Cosmology

Thomas C. Bachlechner·Kate Eckerle·Oliver Janssen·Matthew Kleban
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Abstract

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 are stable on cosmological timescales. In a single theory, both large- and small-field inflation are possible and yield a broad range of cosmological observables, and vacuum decay can be followed by a relatively large number (> 60) of efolds of inflation. Light axions stabilized by gravitational instantons may constitute a natural dark matter candidate that does not spoil an axion solution to the strong CP problem.

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Thomas C. Bachlechner, Kate Eckerle, Oliver Janssen, Matthew Kleban. 2018-10-05. Axion Landscape Cosmology. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516%2F2019%2F09%2F062

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