{
  "abstract": "A QCD axion accounting for dark matter through pre-inflationary misalignment is strongly constrained by CMB isocurvature bounds, which place the classic axion window in tension with high-scale inflation. The tension arises because the same decay constant controls both the relic abundance and the primordial axion fluctuations. We show how this link can be broken in a broad class of scale-invariant models, without introducing any dimensionful parameter into the classical action. Rather than imposing a fixed Peccei-Quinn scale, the axion's kinetic normalisation is set by a dynamical field ratio. The resulting field-space metric controls the abundance through its value today and the primordial fluctuations through its value at horizon crossing. A sufficiently large metric during inflation suppresses isocurvature, allowing high-scale inflation in the classic axion window with an untuned misalignment angle and sub-Planckian decay constants. The exact scale and Peccei-Quinn symmetries also enforce a non-turning inflationary attractor, conserving the super-Hubble curvature perturbation and preserving the single-field adiabatic spectrum. We realise the mechanism in the Higgs-Dilaton model by deforming the Peccei-Quinn kinetic term. The same deformation turns the inflaton sector into an $α$-attractor pinned near the Starobinsky point. This explicit realisation has a super-Planckian present decay constant, which places it in the anthropic window, now reopened at high inflationary scales, with an ultralight QCD axion constrained by black-hole superradiance.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.24070",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Mariaveronica De Angelis"
    },
    {
      "name": "Javier Rubio"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/59ahpqachf04c.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.24070",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "59ahpqachf04c",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.24070",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.CO"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "gr-qc"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223038510",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.24070",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-16",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/59ahpqachf04c.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:30:52Z",
      "native_id": "2610.24070",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.24070"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.CO",
      "subfield": "cosmology"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:gr-qc",
      "subfield": "gravitation"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-ph",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Breaking the axion abundance-isocurvature relation: Scale invariance and high-scale inflation",
  "title_text": "Breaking the axion abundance-isocurvature relation: Scale invariance and high-scale inflation",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:33:41Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/59ahpqachf04c",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}