Talks (non-conference)

We present a mechanism for realizing hybrid inflation using two axion fields with a purely non-perturbatively generated scalar potential. The structure of scalar potential is highly constrained by the discrete shift symmetries of the axions. [...]

I discuss the implementation of the Peccei-Quinn mechanism in a minimal realization of the Pati-Salam partial unification scheme. The axion mass is shown to be related to the Pati-Salam breaking scale and it is predicted via a two-loop renormalization group analysis to be in the window ma∈[10−11,3×10−7] eV, as a function of a sliding Left-Right symmetry breaking scale. [...]

I discuss the implementation of the Peccei-Quinn mechanism in a minimal realization of the Pati-Salam partial unification scheme. The axion mass is shown to be related to the Pati-Salam breaking scale and it is predicted via a two-loop renormalization group analysis to be in the window ma∈[10−11,3×10−7] eV, as a function of a sliding Left-Right symmetry breaking scale. [...]

I discuss the physics case for the GUT axion, motivated by the fact that the GUT axion window could be completely explored by the late phases of the axion Dark Matter experiments CASPEr-Electric and ABRACADABRA. This connection is exemplified for the case of the Pati-Salam partial unification scheme, in which the axion mass is predicted as a function of a sliding Left-Right symmetry breaking scale..

Meta-stable dark-sector particles decaying into electrons or photons may non-trivially change the Hubble rate, lead to entropy injection into the thermal bath of Standard Model particles and may also photodisintegrate light nuclei formed in the early universe. We study generic constraints from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis on such a setup, with a particular emphasis on MeV-scale particles which are neither fully relativistic nor non-relativistic during all relevant temperatures. [...]

The Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB accelerator in Tsukuba, Japan, is a second-generation B factory experiment. Belle II will benefit from an approximate factor of 40 increase in the instantaneous luminosity with respect to the previous Belle / KEKB experiment, due to significantly reduced beam interaction profile, and higher beam current. [...]