TY  - JOUR
AU  - Papageorgiou, Alexandros
AU  - Quilez Lasanta, Pablo
AU  - Schmitz, Kai
TI  - Axion dark matter from frictional misalignment
JO  - Journal of high energy physics
VL  - 01
IS  - 1
SN  - 1126-6708
CY  - [Trieste]
PB  - SISSA
M1  - PUBDB-2023-01100
M1  - arXiv:2206.01129
M1  - CTPU-PTC-22-11
M1  - DESY-22-094
M1  - MS-TP-22-17
M1  - CERN-TH-2022-091
SP  - 169
PY  - 2023
N1  - 18 pages, 6 figures and 2 tables. v3: Published version in JHEP. Typos and references corrected. Ten-minute video abstract on Youtube: https://youtu.be/PBtN0XAubfM
AB  - We study the impact of sphaleron-induced thermal friction on the axion dark-matter abundance due to the interaction of an axion-like particle (ALP) with a dark non-abelian gauge sector in a secluded thermal bath. Thermal friction can either enhance the axion relic density by delaying the onset of oscillations or suppress it by damping them. We derive an analytical formula for the frictional adiabatic invariant, which remains constant along the axion evolution and which allows us to compute the axion relic density in a general set-up. Even in the most minimal scenario, in which a single gauge group is responsible for both the generation of the ALP mass and the friction force, we find that the resulting dark-matter abundance from the misalignment mechanism deviates from the standard scenario for axion masses m<sub>a</sub> >~100   eV. We also generalize our analysis to the case where the gauge field that induces friction and the gauge sector responsible for the ALP mass are distinct and their couplings to the axion have a large hierarchy as can be justified by means of alignment or clockwork scenarios. We find that it is easy to open up the ALP parameter space where the resulting axion abundance matches the observed dark-matter relic density both in the traditionally over- and underabundant regimes. This conclusion also holds for the QCD axion.
KW  - axion: dark matter (INSPIRE)
KW  - axion: relic density (INSPIRE)
KW  - dark matter: relic density (INSPIRE)
KW  - quantum chromodynamics: axion (INSPIRE)
KW  - gauge: nonabelian (INSPIRE)
KW  - axion: mass (INSPIRE)
KW  - invariance: adiabatic (INSPIRE)
KW  - thermal (INSPIRE)
KW  - alignment (INSPIRE)
KW  - oscillation (INSPIRE)
KW  - hierarchy (INSPIRE)
KW  - gauge field theory (INSPIRE)
KW  - axion-like particles (INSPIRE)
KW  - numerical calculations (INSPIRE)
KW  - Axions and ALPs (autogen)
KW  - Cosmology of Theories BSM (autogen)
KW  - Early Universe Particle Physics (autogen)
KW  - Particle Nature of Dark Matter (autogen)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000925091400005
DO  - DOI:10.1007/JHEP01(2023)169
UR  - https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/580127
ER  -