TY  - JOUR
PB  - SciPost Foundation
DO  - 10.21468/SciPostPhys.18.1.016
TI  - QCD axion strings or seeds?
PY  - 2025/01/15
UR  - https://www.scipost.org/SciPostPhys.18.1.016
JF  - SciPost Physics
JA  - SciPost Phys.
VL  - 18
IS  - 1
SP  - 016
A1  - Blasi, Simone
AU  - Mariotti, Alberto
AB  - We study the impact of QCD axion strings on the cosmological history of electroweak (EW) symmetry breaking, focussing on the minimal KSVZ axion model. We consider the case of the pure SM Higgs potential as well as a simple scenario with a first order EW phase transition. We capture the effect of the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) sector within an effective-theory approach for the Higgs field, where the axion string core and the heavy PQ states are integrated out. The relevant parameters in this effective theory are controlled by the size of the portal coupling between the Higgs and the PQ scalar, and the mass of the PQ radial excitation. We determine the range of portal couplings for which the axion strings can strongly affect the dynamics of EW symmetry breaking. In the case of a first order EW phase transition, the strings can act as seeds by either catalyzing the nucleation of (non-spherical) bubbles, or leading to the completion of the phase transition by triggering a classical instability.
ER  -

@Article{10.21468/SciPostPhys.18.1.016,
	title={{QCD axion strings or seeds?}},
	author={Simone Blasi and Alberto Mariotti},
	journal={SciPost Phys.},
	volume={18},
	pages={016},
	year={2025},
	publisher={SciPost},
	doi={10.21468/SciPostPhys.18.1.016},
	url={https://scipost.org/10.21468/SciPostPhys.18.1.016},
}