The Stochastic Axion Scenario

Abstract

For the minimal QCD axion model it is generally believed that overproduction of dark matter constrains the axion mass to be above a certain threshold, or at least that the initial misalignment angle must be tuned if the mass is below that threshold. We demonstrate that this is incorrect. During inflation, if the Hubble scale is low, the axion tends toward an equilibrium. This means the minimal QCD axion can naturally give the observed dark matter abundance in the entire lower part of the mass range, down to masses $\sim 10^{-12}$ eV (or $f_a$ up to almost the Planck scale). The axion abundance is generated by quantum fluctuations of the field during inflation. This mechanism generates cold dark matter with negligible isocurvature perturbations. In addition to the QCD axion, this mechanism can also generate a cosmological abundance of axion-like particles and other light fields.

arXiv comment19 pages, 3 figures. v2: minor changes made to agree with published version

References in corpus (57)

• String Axiverse
• Ultralight scalars as cosmological dark matter
• Axions In String Theory
• A Joint Analysis of BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck Data
• New CAST Limit on the Axion-Photon Interaction
• Equilibrium State of a Massless Self-Interacting Scalar Field in the De Sitter Background
• The QCD axion, precisely
• Experimental Searches for the Axion and Axion-like Particles
• Cosmological Relaxation of the Electroweak Scale
• A Search for Invisible Axion Dark Matter with the Axion Dark Matter Experiment
• Discovering the QCD Axion with Black Holes and Gravitational Waves
• The type IIB string axiverse and its low-energy phenomenology
• Vector Dark Matter from Inflationary Fluctuations
• Dielectric Haloscopes: A New Way to Detect Axion Dark Matter
• Dimensionless constants, cosmology and other dark matters
• New Observables for Direct Detection of Axion Dark Matter
• Broadband and Resonant Approaches to Axion Dark Matter Detection
• Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment (CASPEr)
• Results from phase 1 of the HAYSTAC microwave cavity axion experiment
• Axion Cosmology Revisited
• Axion Cosmology and the Energy Scale of Inflation
• Dark Matter Axions Revisited
• Axion Dark Matter Detection using an LC Circuit
• A Radio for Hidden-Photon Dark Matter Detection
• Standard Model-Axion-Seesaw-Higgs Portal Inflation. Five problems of particle physics and cosmology solved in one stroke
• The topological susceptibility in finite temperature QCD and axion cosmology
• The QCD Axion Window and Low Scale Inflation
• The Cosmology of String Theoretic Axions
• Lattice QCD input for axion cosmology
• Dark Matter Candidates - Axions, Neutralinos, Gravitinos, and Axinos
• Isocurvature bounds on axions revisited
• Can Decaying Particles Raise the Upperbound on the Peccei-Quinn Scale?
• Spin Precession Experiments for Light Axionic Dark Matter
• Opening up the QCD axion window
• Resonant laser power build-up in ALPS -- a "light-shining-through-walls" experiment
• Pseudoscalar perturbations and polarization of the cosmic microwave background
• Axion cold dark matter in view of BICEP2 results
• Supersymmetry, Axions and Cosmology
• Generation of the Higgs Condensate and Its Decay after Inflation
• The Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment (CASPEr): a dark-matter search with nuclear magnetic resonance
• Isocurvature Constraints on Portal Couplings
• The Phase Transition to Eternal Inflation
• The stochastic spectator
• Inflationary Imprints on Dark Matter
• Isocurvature Constraints and Anharmonic Effects on QCD Axion Dark Matter
• Standard Model with a real singlet scalar and inflation
• Axion Predictions in $SO(10)\times U(1{)}_{\mathrm{PQ}}$ Models
• Isocurvature forecast in the anthropic axion window
• BICEP2 / Keck Array IX: New Bounds on Anisotropies of CMB Polarization Rotation and Implications for Axion-Like Particles and Primordial Magnetic Fields
• Light axion-like dark matter must be present during inflation
• Axion Isocurvature and Magnetic Monopoles
• Axion Cosmology with a Stronger QCD in the Early Universe
• Universality of the Volume Bound in Slow-Roll Eternal Inflation
• Cosmologically allowed regions for the axion decay constant $F_a$
• A Quantum Window Onto Early Inflation
• Multiple spectator condensates from inflation
• Axion excursions of the landscape during inflation

Cited by in corpus (119)

• The landscape of QCD axion models
• AION: An Atom Interferometer Observatory and Network
• First Results from ABRACADABRA-10 cm: A Search for Sub-$\mu$eV Axion Dark Matter
• Physics potential of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO)
• Axion Dark Matter Search around 6.7 $\mu$eV
• The QCD Axion Window and Low Scale Inflation
• The Supercooled Universe
• Search for axion-like dark matter using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance
• Projected Sensitivity of DMRadio-m${}^3$: A Search for the QCD Axion Below $1\mu$eV
• Kilobyte Cosmic Birefringence from ALP Domain Walls
• Misalignment & Co.: (Pseudo-)scalar and vector dark matter with curvature couplings
• Simulations of Axion Minihalos
• Searching For Dark Matter with Plasma Haloscopes
• Axion Dark Matter Search around 4.55 $\mu$eV with Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitskii Sensitivity
• A Dark Matter Hurricane: Measuring the S1 Stream with Dark Matter Detectors
• Axion Kinetic Misalignment and Parametric Resonance from Inflation
• Spectator Dark Matter
• Introducing DMRadio-GUT, a search for GUT-scale QCD axions
• Dark matter from scalar field fluctuations
• Pixelated Dark Energy
• QCD Axion on Hilltop by a Phase Shift of $\pi$
• Design and Implementation of the ABRACADABRA-10 cm Axion Dark Matter Search
• Trans-Planckian Censorship, Inflation and Dark Matter
• Light Dark Matter from Inflaton Decay
• Axion dark matter from first-order phase transition, and very high energy photons from GRB 221009A
• Lightish but clumpy: scalar dark matter from inflationary fluctuations
• Scalar correlation functions in de Sitter space from the stochastic spectral expansion
• Spectrum of global string networks and the axion dark matter mass
• ALP inflation and Big Bang on Earth
• Axion dark matter from Higgs inflation with an intermediate $H_{\ast }$
• Relaxing the Cosmological Moduli Problem by Low-scale Inflation
• Fuzzy Dark Matter Candidates from String Theory
• Primordial Black Holes from QCD Axion Bubbles
• Cosmological implications of $n_s\approx 1$ in light of the Hubble tension
• Exclusion of ALP Cogenesis Dark Matter in a Mass Window Above 100 $\mu$eV
• Impact of Higgs portal on gravity-mediated production of superheavy dark matter
• Axion Misalignment Driven to the Bottom
• Peccei-Quinn symmetry from a hidden gauge group structure
• The Interplay between the Dark Matter Axion and Primordial Black Holes
• The future search for low-frequency axions and new physics with the FLASH resonant cavity experiment at Frascati National Laboratories
• Enhanced photon coupling of ALP dark matter adiabatically converted from the QCD axion
• Unified Origin of Axion and Monopole Dark Matter, and Solution to the Domain-wall Problem
• Friendship in the Axiverse: Late-time direct and astrophysical signatures of early-time nonlinear axion dynamics
• Challenges for heavy QCD axion inflation
• Chiral models of composite axions and accidental Peccei-Quinn symmetry
• Ruling out light axions: the writing is on the wall
• Stochastic Axion Dark Matter in Axion Landscape
• Dark Grand Unification in the Axiverse: Decaying Axion Dark Matter and Spontaneous Baryogenesis
• Quantum Science and the Search for Axion Dark Matter
• Earth as a transducer for axion dark-matter detection
• Strong CP problem and axion dark matter with small instantons
• Cosmic Axion Force
• A proposal for a low-frequency axion search in the 1-2 $\mu$eV range and below with the BabyIAXO magnet
• Dark QED from Inflation
• Constraining the gravitational coupling of axion dark matter at LIGO
• Clocking Out Superradiance Limits
• What can a GNOME do? Search targets for the Global Network of Optical Magnetometers for Exotic physics searches
• Axion Dark Matter from Lepton flavor-violating Decays
• Scale and quality of Peccei-Quinn symmetry and weak gravity conjectures
• Gravitational waves and neutrino oscillations in Chern-Simons axion gravity
• Cosmological effects of Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking on QCD axion dark matter
• A Hunt for Magnetic Signatures of Hidden-Photon and Axion Dark Matter in the Wilderness
• The Stochastic Axiverse
• Leptogenesis via Neutrino Oscillation Magic
• Trapping Effect for QCD Axion Dark Matter
• ALP dark matter with non-periodic potentials: parametric resonance, halo formation and gravitational signatures
• Analytic study of dark photon and gravitational wave production from axion
• Axion Isocurvature Perturbations in Low-Scale Models of Hybrid Inflation
• What if ALP dark matter for the XENON1T excess is the inflaton
• Stochastic inflation with an extremely large number of $e$-folds
• QCD Axion Window and False Vacuum Higgs Inflation
• The QCD Axion: A Unique Player in the Axiverse with Mixings
• Mass Hierarchy and Vacuum Energy
• Relaxion Dark Matter from Stochastic Misalignment
• Stochastic evolution of scalar fields with continuous symmetries during inflation
• Dynamical axion misalignment with small instantons
• Direct baryogenesis in the broken phase
• Axion dark matter from frictional misalignment
• Early dark energy by dark Higgs, and axion-induced non-thermal trapping
• Small cosmological constant from a peculiar inflaton potential
• Thermal production of cold "hot dark matter" around eV
• Standard model Higgs field and hidden sector cosmology
• Challenging the Stability of Light Millicharged Dark Matter
• The Flavor of QCD Axion Dark Matter
• Hidden Dark Matter from Starobinsky Inflation
• Bino-wino coannihilation as a prediction in the $E_7$ unification of families
• Throwing away antimatter via neutrino oscillations during the reheating era
• Inflaxion Dark Matter
• Very Light Asymmetric Dark Matter
• Inflection-Point Inflation with Axion Dark Matter in light of Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture
• Revisiting Isocurvature Bounds on the Minimal QCD Axion
• Symmetrically Tuned Large-Volume Conic Shell-Cavities for Axion Searches
• Squeezing the Axion
• Probing Dark Matter Axions using the Hyperfine Structure Splitting of Hydrogen Atoms
• Large-Volume Centimeter-Wave Cavities for Axion Searches
• The Stochastic Relaxion
• Charge Quantization and Neutrino Mass from Planck-scale SUSY
• Impedance Matching to Axion Dark Matter: Considerations of the Photon-Electron Interaction
• Spectator dark matter in non-standard cosmologies
• Hubble selection of the weak scale from QCD quantum critical point
• Fast DAQ system with image rejection for axion dark matter searches
• $\alpha$-attractor potentials in loop quantum cosmology
• Insights on the Cosmic Origin of Matter from Proton Stability
• Cosmic Birefringence from CP-Violating Axion Interactions
• Hidden Photon and Axion Dark Matter from Symmetry Breaking
• Search for Axionlike Dark Matter Using Liquid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
• Particle Production from Oscillating Scalar Field and Consistency of Boltzmann Equation
• Broadband Dark Matter Axion Detection using a Cylindrical Capacitor
• Electromagnetic modeling and science reach of DMRadio-m${}^3$
• Coleman-Weinberg dynamics of ultralight scalar dark matter and GeV-scale right-handed neutrinos
• Early universe dynamics of PQ field with very small self-coupling and its implications for axion dark matter
• Emergent particles of de Sitter: thermal interpretation of the stochastic formalism and beyond
• Plausible constraints and inflationary production for dark photons
• Ultralight Dark Matter from the Edge of Field Space
• High-$Q$ Superconducting Lumped-Element Resonators for Low-Mass Axion Searches
• Testing Inflationary Cosmology
• Exploration of Wire Array Metamaterials for the Plasma Axion Haloscope
• Dynamically generated tilt of isocurvature fluctuations
• Stochastic isocurvature constraints for axion dark matter with high-scale inflation