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Gauge-field production during axion inflation in the gradient expansion formalism
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Gauge-field production during axion inflation in the gradient expansion formalism
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We study the explosive production of gauge fields during axion inflation in a novel gradient expansion formalism that describes the time evolution of a set of bilinear electromagnetic functions in position space. Based on this formalism, we are able to simultaneously account for two important effects that have thus far been mostly treated in isolation: (i) the backreaction of the produced gauge fields on the evolution of the inflaton field and (ii) the Schwinger pair production of charged particles in the strong gauge-field background. This allows us to show that the suppression of the gauge-field production due to the Schwinger effect can prevent the backreaction in scenarios in which it would otherwise be relevant. Moreover, we point out that the induced current, $\boldsymbol{J} = \sigma \boldsymbol{E}$, also dampens the Bunch-Davies vacuum fluctuations deep inside the Hubble horizon. We describe this suppression by a new parameter $\Delta$ that is related to the time integral over the conductivity $\sigma$ which hence renders the description of the entire system inherently nonlocal in time. Finally, we demonstrate how our formalism can be used to construct highly accurate solutions for the mode functions of the gauge field in Fourier space, which serves as a starting point for a wealth of further phenomenological applications, including the phenomenology of primordial perturbations and baryogenesis.
Forward citations
Cited by 6 Pith papers
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Gravitational waves from axion inflation in the gradient expansion formalism. Part I. Pure axion inflation
In pure axion inflation, detectable gravitational wave signals arise only in parameter regions with strong backreaction that violate the upper bound on ΔN_eff.
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Schwinger effect in axion inflation on a lattice
Lattice simulations show that Schwinger currents saturate gauge-field production in axion inflation, yielding universal conductivity and magnetic-field values at the onset of strong backreaction.
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Axion Inflation from Heavy-Fermion One-Loop Effects
One-loop integration of a heavy fermion with inflaton-dependent mass in axion inflation generates localized gauge-field production and a detectable chiral gravitational-wave signal in the deci-hertz range.
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Gravitational waves from axion inflation in the gradient expansion formalism. Part II. Fermionic axion inflation
Schwinger fermion production in axion inflation damps gauge fields, enabling observable primordial gravitational waves in LISA/ET bands while satisfying ΔN_eff limits and identifying a new damped-oscillation backreact...
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Primordial black hole dark matter from axion inflation
PBHs generated by axion inflation with gauge-field coupling can comprise all dark matter in the asteroidal mass range while producing a LISA-measurable stochastic GW background.
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The End of the First Act: Spectral Running, Interacting Dark Radiation, and the Hubble Tension in Light of ACT DR6 Data
Including spectral running α_s, β_s and self-interacting dark radiation relaxes the ACT DR6 bound on ΔN_eff to <0.58 and lowers the Hubble tension to 2.2σ with three extra parameters.
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