The QCD Axion: Some Like It Hot

Abstract

We compare the QCD axion phase-space distribution from unitarized next-to-leading order chiral perturbation theory with the one extracted from pion-scattering data. We derive a robust bound by confronting momentum-dependent Boltzmann equations against up-to-date observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, of the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations and of primordial abundances. These datasets imply $m_a\le 0.16$ eV for the 95% credible interval, i.e. $\sim$30% stronger bound than what previously found. We present forecasts using dedicated likelihoods for future cosmological surveys and the sphaleron rate from unquenched lattice QCD.

version matching publication on PRD

References in corpus (30)

• The Chiral Magnetic Effect
• The Clustering of the SDSS DR7 Main Galaxy Sample I: A 4 per cent Distance Measure at z=0.15
• An Improved Experimental Limit on the Electric Dipole Moment of the Neutron
• Massive neutrinos and cosmology
• The QCD transition temperature: results with physical masses in the continuum limit
• Measurement of the permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron
• Revisiting the bound on axion-photon coupling from Globular Clusters
• The pion-pion scattering amplitude. IV: Improved analysis with once subtracted Roy-like equations up to 1100 MeV
• The effects of He I 10830 on helium abundance determinations
• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis as a Probe of New Physics
• Cosmological parameters derived from the final (PR4) Planck data release
• Revisiting the axion bounds from the Galactic white dwarf luminosity function
• The Sphaleron Rate in SU(N) Gauge Theory
• Standard big bang nucleosynthesis and primordial CNO Abundances after Planck
• The primordial deuterium abundance of the most metal-poor damped Lyman-alpha system
• Probing Physics Beyond the Standard Model: Limits from BBN and the CMB Independently and Combined
• Thermal axion production in the primordial quark-gluon plasma
• Relic Neutrinos, thermal axions and cosmology in early 2014
• The PHLEK Survey: A New Determination of the Primordial Helium Abundance
• Constraints on Cosmological Parameters from the 500 deg${}^2$ SPTpol Lensing Power Spectrum
• Unveiling Dark Matter free-streaming at the smallest scales with high redshift Lyman-alpha forest
• An improved cosmological bound on the thermal axion mass
• Thermal QCD Axions across Thresholds
• Cosmological constraints on neutrino plus axion hot dark matter
• A new determination of the primordial helium abundance using the analyses of HII region spectra from SDSS
• Production of Thermal Axions across the ElectroWeak Phase Transition
• The DFSZ axion in the CMB
• Future cosmological sensitivity for hot dark matter axions
• Resolving conclusions about the early Universe requires accurate nuclear measurements
• Revisiting signatures of thermal axions in nonstandard cosmologies

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Massive neutrinos and cosmic composition
• Neutrino masses from large-scale structures: future sensitivity and theory dependence
• Precise predictions for the QCD axion contribution to dark radiation with full phase-space evolution
• Free-Streaming Neutrinos and Their Phase Shift in Current and Future CMB Power Spectra
• Catalogues of Cosmologically Self-Consistent Hadronic QCD Axion Models
• Using $\Delta N_{\mathrm{eff}}$ to constrain preferred axion model dark matter
• Hunting axion dark matter with anti-ferromagnets: a case study with nickel oxide
• New Bounds on Heavy QCD Axions from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Improved cosmological constraints on axion-lepton interactions
• Axions at the meV Crossroads: Theory, Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Experiments
• Beyond thermal approximations: Precise cosmological bounds on Axion-Like Particles