Cosmological imprints of string axions in plateau

We initiate a study on various cosmological imprints of string axions whose scalar potentials have plateau regions. In such cases, we show that a delayed onset of oscillation generically leads to a parametric resonance instability. In particular, for ultralight axions, the parametric resonance can enhance the power spectrum slightly below the Jeans scale, alleviating the tension with the Lyman $\alpha$ forest observations. We also argue that a long-lasting resonance can lead to an emission of gravitational waves at the frequency bands which are detectable by gravitational wave interferometers and pulsar timing arrays.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures; v2: references added, v3: matches with the published versio

Strong restriction on inflationary vacua from the local gauge invariance I: Local gauge invariance and infrared regularity

The primordial perturbation is widely accepted to be generated through the vacuum fluctuation of the scalar field which drives inflation. It is, however, not completely clear what is the natural vacuum in the inflationary universe particularly in the presence of non-linear interactions. In this series of papers, we will address this issue, focusing on the condition required for the removal of the divergence from the infrared (IR) contribution to loop diagrams. We show that requesting the gauge invariance in the local observable universe guarantees the IR regularity of the loop corrections beginning with a simple initial state. In our previous works, the IR regularity condition was discussed using the slow roll expansion, which restricts the background evolution of the inflationary universe. We will show more generally that requesting the gauge invariance/the IR regularity leads to non-trivial constraints on the allowed quantum states.Comment: 14 page