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Unifying Inflation with the Axion, Dark Matter, Baryogenesis, and the Seesaw Mechanism

Guillermo Ballesteros, Javier Redondo, Andreas Ringwald, and Carlos Tamarit
Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 071802 – Published 15 February 2017
Physics logo See Synopsis: Model Tries to Solve Five Physics Problems at Once

Abstract

A minimal extension of the standard model (SM) with a single new mass scale and providing a complete and consistent picture of particle physics and cosmology up to the Planck scale is presented. We add to the SM three right-handed SM-singlet neutrinos, a new vectorlike color triplet fermion, and a complex SM-singlet scalar σ that stabilizes the Higgs potential and whose vacuum expectation value at 1011GeV breaks lepton number and a Peccei-Quinn symmetry simultaneously. Primordial inflation is produced by a combination of σ (nonminimally coupled to the scalar curvature) and the SM Higgs boson. Baryogenesis proceeds via thermal leptogenesis. At low energies, the model reduces to the SM, augmented by seesaw-generated neutrino masses, plus the axion, which solves the strong CP problem and accounts for the dark matter in the Universe. The model predicts a minimum value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio r0.004, running of the scalar spectral index α7×104, the axion mass mA100μeV, and cosmic axion background radiation corresponding to an increase of the effective number of relativistic neutrinos of 0.03. It can be probed decisively by the next generation of cosmic microwave background and axion dark matter experiments.

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  • Received 22 August 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.071802

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Particles & Fields

Synopsis

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Model Tries to Solve Five Physics Problems at Once

Published 15 February 2017

A minimal extension to the standard model of particle physics involves six new particles.

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Authors & Affiliations

Guillermo Ballesteros1,*, Javier Redondo2,3,†, Andreas Ringwald4,‡, and Carlos Tamarit5,§

  • 1Institut de Physique Théorique, Université Paris Saclay, CEA, CNRS, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
  • 2Departamento de Física Teórica, Universidad de Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, E-50009 Zaragoza, Spain
  • 3Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, Föhringer Ring 6, 80805 München, Germany
  • 4DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
  • 5Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, Durham University South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom

  • *guillermo.ballesteros@cea.fr
  • jredondo@unizar.es
  • andreas.ringwald@desy.de
  • §carlos.tamarit@durham.ac.uk

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Issue

Vol. 118, Iss. 7 — 17 February 2017

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