HEP Theory Journal Club

Novel axion and ALP territory

Belen Gavela Legazpi

UAM

A general overview of the present theoretical and experimental panorama on axions and on ALPs (axion-like-particles) is presented. Particular attention will be set on recent theoretical developments on true axions that solve the strong CP problem with masses and scales well beyond the canonical range: “heavy” axions and “lighter than QCD axions”. The generic enhancement of their interactions has a strong impact on LHC searches and on the prospects of ALP experiments such as ALPS II, IAXO, Casper Electric and many others. For lighter-than-usual axions, it will be shown how their very peculiar finite density and finite temperature potential allows to set strong model-independent constraints and impacts deeply on the cosmological evolution and dark matter production. This leads to the first true axion model of fuzzy dark matter.