Axions and saxions from the primordial supersymmetric plasma and extra radiation signatures

Abstract

We calculate the rate for thermal production of axions and saxions via scattering of quarks, gluons, squarks, and gluinos in the primordial supersymmetric plasma. Systematic field theoretical methods such as hard thermal loop resummation are applied to obtain a finite result in a gauge-invariant way that is consistent to leading order in the strong gauge coupling. We calculate the thermally produced yield and the decoupling temperature for both axions and saxions. For the generic case in which saxion decays into axions are possible, the emitted axions can constitute extra radiation already prior to big bang nucleosynthesis and well thereafter. We update associated limits imposed by recent studies of the primordial helium-4 abundance and by precision cosmology of the cosmic microwave background and large scale structure. We show that the trend towards extra radiation seen in those studies can be explained by late decays of thermal saxions into axions and that upcoming Planck results will probe supersymmetric axion models with unprecedented sensitivity.

16 pages, 7 figures; v2: references added, minor clarifying additions, matches published version

References in corpus (19)

• Bose-Einstein Condensation of Dark Matter Axions
• Constraints on the Reheating Temperature in Gravitino Dark Matter Scenarios
• Probing cosmological parameters with the CMB: Forecasts from full Monte Carlo simulations
• Cosmology seeking friendship with sterile neutrinos
• Dark Matter Candidates - Axions, Neutralinos, Gravitinos, and Axinos
• Isocurvature bounds on axions revisited
• Thermal axion production in the primordial quark-gluon plasma
• Robust Cosmological Bounds on Neutrinos and their Combination with Oscillation Results
• Observational bounds on the cosmic radiation density
• Using BBN in cosmological parameter extraction from CMB: a forecast for Planck
• Cosmological implications of supersymmetric axion models
• Axinos as Dark Matter Particles
• Cosmological Constraints on Gravitino LSP Scenario with Sneutrino NLSP
• Aspects of the UV/IR correspondence : energy broadening and string fluctuations
• Sneutrino NLSP Scenarios in the NUHM with Gravitino Dark Matter
• Leptogenesis, Gravitino Dark Matter and Entropy Production
• Electroweak Contributions to Thermal Gravitino Production
• Upper Limits on the Peccei-Quinn Scale and on the Reheating Temperature in Axino Dark Matter Scenarios
• Cavity Microwave Searches for Cosmological Axions

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Dark matter production in the early Universe: beyond the thermal WIMP paradigm
• The 7 keV axion dark matter and the X-ray line signal
• Parity-violating interactions of cosmic fields with atoms, molecules, and nuclei: Concepts and calculations for laboratory searches and extracting limits
• Nuclear spin-dependent interactions: Searches for WIMP, Axion and Topological Defect Dark Matter, and Tests of Fundamental Symmetries
• Axion Models with High Scale Inflation
• New Atomic probes for Dark Matter detection: Axions, Axion-like particles and Topological Defects
• Mixed axion/gravitino dark matter from SUSY models with heavy axinos
• A Rich Tapestry: Supersymmetric Axions, Dark Radiation, and Inflationary Reheating
• QCD Axion From a Spontaneously Broken B-L Gauge Symmetry