QCD axion misalignment during reheating

Abstract

We study the production of QCD axion dark matter (DM) via vacuum and kinetic misalignment mechanisms during an extended reheating period after the end of slow-roll inflation. With pre-inflationary Peccei-Quinn breaking and considering a monomial inflaton potential during reheating, we classify our study into three different perturbative reheating scenarios in which the inflaton decays into (i) a pair of Standard Model (SM)-like bosons, (ii) a pair of SM-like fermions, or (iii) exclusively into a pair of heavy right-handed neutrinos, which eventually decays into the SM final states after dominating the energy density of the Universe for an intermediate epoch. For each of these reheating scenarios, we study the details of QCD axion relic separately via vacuum and kinetic misalignment mechanisms. For different combinations of reheating, monomial inflaton potential and misalignment mechanisms, we identify the parameter space consistent with the observed DM relic density while satisfying other cosmological and laboratory constraints. We also check the scope of probing the currently allowed parameter space at axion-detection and gravitational wave (GW) experiments.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{bandyopadhyay2026axion,
  title = {{QCD axion misalignment during reheating}},
  author = {Disha Bandyopadhyay and Debasish Borah and Nayan Das},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.00458},
  eprint = {2610.00458},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.00458},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - QCD axion misalignment during reheating
AU  - Disha Bandyopadhyay
AU  - Debasish Borah
AU  - Nayan Das
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/01
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.00458
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.00458
AB  - We study the production of QCD axion dark matter (DM) via vacuum and kinetic misalignment mechanisms during an extended reheating period after the end of slow-roll inflation. With pre-inflationary Peccei-Quinn breaking and considering a monomial inflaton potential during reheating, we classify our study into three different perturbative reheating scenarios in which the inflaton decays into (i) a pair of Standard Model (SM)-like bosons, (ii) a pair of SM-like fermions, or (iii) exclusively into a pair of heavy right-handed neutrinos, which eventually decays into the SM final states after dominating the energy density of the Universe for an intermediate epoch. For each of these reheating scenarios, we study the details of QCD axion relic separately via vacuum and kinetic misalignment mechanisms. For different combinations of reheating, monomial inflaton potential and misalignment mechanisms, we identify the parameter space consistent with the observed DM relic density while satisfying other cosmological and laboratory constraints. We also check the scope of probing the currently allowed parameter space at axion-detection and gravitational wave (GW) experiments.
ER  -

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