Do we Come from a Quantum Anomaly?

Abstract

We present a string-based picture of the cosmological evolution in which (CP-violating) gravitational anomalies acting during the inflationary phase of the universe cause the vacuum energy density to "run" with the effective Hubble parameter squared, $H^2$, thanks to the axion field of the bosonic string multiplet. This leads to baryogenesis through leptogenesis with massive right-handed neutrinos. The generation of chiral matter after inflation helps in cancelling the anomalies in the observable radiation- and matter- dominated eras. The present era inherits the same "running vacuum" structure triggered during the inflationary time by the axion field. The current dark energy is thus predicted to be mildly dynamical, and dark matter should be made of axions. Paraphrasing Carl Sagan: "we are all anomalously made from starstuff " .

Accepted for publication in Int. J. of Mod. Phys. D. This essay received an Honorable Mention from the Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition on Gravitation (2019)

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• Stringy-Running-Vacuum-Model Inflation: from primordial Gravitational Waves and stiff Axion Matter to Dynamical Dark Energy
• Quantum Anomalies in String-Inspired Running Vacuum Universe: Inflation and Axion Dark Matter
• Inflationary physics and transplanckian conjecture in the Stringy Running-Vacuum-Model: from the phantom vacuum to the true vacuum
• Phantom matter: a challenging solution to the cosmological tensions
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• Multi-fluid cosmology in Einstein gravity: analytical solutions
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• Primordial universe with the running cosmological constant
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