Description:

We present a paradigm where the (QCD) axion’s novel evolution, a rotation in field space, can address cosmological mysteries of the Universe. This dynamics may naturally arise as a result of quantum gravity effects and cosmic inflation but was overlooked in the extensive literature. This talk will explore the example where axion rotations contribute to axion dark matter through kinetic misalignment and can generate the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe via axiogenesis. Remarkably, rich phenomenology automatically arises with sharp, distinct, and correlated predictions. These include specific axion properties more experimentally accessible than the conventional scenarios, unique gravitational wave signals, and correlated mass scales of supersymmetry and neutrinos. Thus far, axion rotations have added fuel to experimental efforts and paved new theory research avenues, opening up resolutions to the deepest cosmological mysteries with discoverable signatures.

Raymond Co, Professor, Indiana University

Host: Innes Bigaran