The R-axion and non-Gaussianity

Abstract

We study cosmological implications of an R-axion, a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with spontaneous breaking of an U(1)_R symmetry, focusing on its quantum fluctuations generated during inflation. We show that, in the anomaly mediation, the R-axion decays into a pair of gravitinos, which eventually decay into the visible particles producing the neutralino LSP. As a result, the quantum fluctuations of the R-axion are inherited by the cold dark matter isocurvature density perturbation with potentially large non-Gaussianity. The constraints on the inflation scale and the initial misalignment are derived.

10 pages, 2 figures