A minimal scale invariant axion solution to the strong CP-problem

We present a scale invariant extension of the Standard model allowing for the Kim-Shifman-Vainstein-Zakharov (KSVZ) axion solution of the strong CP problem in QCD. We add the minimal number of new particles and show that the Peccei-Quinn scalar might be identified with the complex dilaton field. Scale invariance, together with the Peccei-Quinn symmetry, is broken spontaneously near the Planck scale before inflation, which is driven by the Standard Model Higgs field. We present a set of general conditions which makes this scenario viable and an explicit example of an effective theory possessing spontaneous breaking of scale invariance. We show that this description works both for inflation and low-energy physics in the electroweak vacuum. This scenario can provide a self-consistent inflationary stage and, at the same time, successfully avoid the cosmological bounds on the axion. Our general predictions are the existence of coloured TeV mass fermion and the QCD axion. The latter has all the properties of the KSVZ axion but does not contribute to dark matter. This axion can be searched via it's mixing to a photon in an external magnetic field

Scale-invariance as the origin of dark radiation?

Recent cosmological data favour R^2-inflation and some amount of non-standard dark radiation in the Universe. We show that a framework of high energy scale invariance can explain these data. The spontaneous breaking of this symmetry provides gravity with the Planck mass and particle physics with the electroweak scale. We found that the corresponding massless Nambu--Goldstone bosons -- dilatons -- are produced at reheating by the inflaton decay right at the amount needed to explain primordial abundances of light chemical elements and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background. Then we extended the discussion on the interplay with Higgs-inflation and on general class of inflationary models where dilatons are allowed and may form the dark radiation. As a result we put a lower limit on the reheating temperature in a general scale invariant model of inflation.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures; v2: replaced with revised version recently publishe

On the dark radiation problem in the axiverse

String scenarios generically predict that we live in a so called axiverse: the Universe with about a hundred of light axion species which are decoupled from the Standard Model particles. However, the axions can couple to the inflaton which leads to their production after inflation. Then, these axions remain in the expanding Universe contributing to the dark radiation component, which is severely bounded from present cosmological data. We place a general constraint on the axion production rate and apply it to several variants of reasonable inflaton-to-axion couplings. The limit merely constrains the number of ultralight axions and the relative strength of inflaton-to-axion coupling. It is valid in both large and small field inflationary models irrespectively of the axion energy scales and masses. Thus, the limit is complementary to those associated with the Universe overclosure and axion isocurvature fluctuations. In particular, a hundred of axions is forbidden if inflaton universally couples to all the fields at reheating. In the case of gravitational sector being responsible for the reheating of the Universe (which is a natural option in all inflationary models with modified gravity), the axion production can be efficient. We find that in the Starobinsky $R^2$-inflation even a single axion (e.g. the standard QCD-axion) is in tension with the Planck data, making the model inconsistent with the axiverse. The general conclusion is that an inflation with inefficient reheating mechanism and low reheating temperature may be in tension with the presence of light scalars

To Positivity and Beyond, where Higgs-Dilaton Inflation has never gone before

We study the consequences of (beyond) positivity of scattering amplitudes in the effective field theory description of the Higgs-Dilaton inflationary model. By requiring the EFT to be compatible with a unitary, causal, local and Lorentz invariant UV completion, we derive constraints on the Wilson coefficients of the first higher order derivative operators. We show that the values allowed by the constraints are consistent with the phenomenological applications of the Higgs-Dilaton model.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures; matches the published versio

Some like it hot: R2R^2 heals Higgs inflation, but does not cool it

Strong coupling in Higgs inflation at high energies hinders a joint description of inflation, reheating and low-energy dynamics. The situation may be improved with a proper UV completion of the model. A well-defined self-consistent way is to introduce an $R^2$-term into the action. In this modified model the strong coupling scale returns back to the Planck scale, which justifies the use of the perturbative methods in studies of the model dynamics after inflation. We investigate the reheating of the post-inflationary Universe, which involves two highly anharmonic oscillators strongly interacting with each other: homogeneous Higgs field and scalaron. We observe that in interesting regions of model parameter space these oscillations make longitudinal components of the weak gauge bosons tachyonic, triggering instant preheating at timescales much shorter than the Hubble time. The weak gauge bosons are heavy and decay promptly into light Standard Model particles, ensuring the onset of the radiation domination era right after inflation.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures. Minor clarifications, corrected typo in eq. (38) and in Fig. 5 axes label

Scalaron the healer: removing the strong-coupling in the Higgs- and Higgs-dilaton inflations

We show that introducing $R^2$-term makes the Higgs-inflation and Higgs-dilaton inflation consistent models: the strong coupling energy scales in scalar, gauge and gravity sectors all are lifted up to the Planck scale.Comment: Journal versio

Unitarity of Minkowski non-local theories made explicit

In this work we explicitly show that the perturbative unitarity of analytic infinite derivative (AID) scalar field theories can be achieved using a modified prescription for computing scattering amplitudes. The crux of the new prescription is the analytic continuation of a result obtained in the Euclidean signature to the Minkowski external momenta. We explicitly elaborate an example of a non-local $\phi^4$ model for various infinite derivative operators. General UV properties of amplitudes in non-local theories are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure