Axion Kinetic Misalignment Mechanism.

In the conventional misalignment mechanism, the axion field has a constant initial field value in the early Universe and later begins to oscillate. We present an alternative scenario where the axion field has a nonzero initial velocity, allowing an axion decay constant much below the conventional prediction from axion dark matter. This axion velocity can be generated from explicit breaking of the axion shift symmetry in the early Universe, which may occur as this symmetry is approximate.

Natural Twin Neutralino Dark Matter.

Supersymmetric twin Higgs models have a discrete symmetry for which each standard model particle and its supersymmetric partner have a corresponding state that transforms under a mirror standard model gauge group. This framework is able to accommodate the nondiscovery of new particles at the LHC with the naturalness of the electroweak scale. We point out that supersymmetric twin Higgs models also provide a natural dark matter candidate. We investigate the possibility that a twin binolike state is the lightest supersymmetric particle and find that its freeze-out abundance can explain the observed dark matter abundance without fine-tuning the mass spectrum of the theory. Most of the viable parameter space can be probed by future dark matter direct detection experiments, and the LHC searches for staus and Higgsinos which may involve displaced vertices.

Axiogenesis.

We propose a mechanism called axiogenesis where the cosmological excess of baryons over antibaryons is generated from the rotation of the QCD axion. The Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry may be explicitly broken in the early Universe, inducing the rotation of a PQ charged scalar field. The rotation corresponds to the asymmetry of the PQ charge, which is converted into the baryon asymmetry via QCD and electroweak sphaleron transitions. In the concrete model we explore, interesting phenomenology arises due to the prediction of a small decay constant and the connections with new physics at the LHC and future colliders and with axion dark matter.

QCD Axion Dark Matter with a Small Decay Constant.

The QCD axion is a good dark matter candidate. The observed dark matter abundance can arise from misalignment or defect mechanisms, which generically require an axion decay constant f_{a}∼O(10^{11}) GeV (or higher). We introduce a new cosmological origin for axion dark matter, parametric resonance from oscillations of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking field, that requires f_{a}∼(10^{8}-10^{11}) GeV. The axions may be warm enough to give deviations from cold dark matter in large scale structure.

Asymptotically Free Natural Supersymmetric Twin Higgs Model.

Twin Higgs (TH) models explain the absence of new colored particles responsible for natural electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB). All known ultraviolet completions of TH models require some nonperturbative dynamics below the Planck scale. We propose a supersymmetric model in which the TH mechanism is introduced by a new asymptotically free gauge interaction. The model features natural EWSB for squarks and gluino heavier than 2 TeV even if supersymmetry breaking is mediated around the Planck scale, and has interesting flavor phenomenology including the top quark decay into the Higgs boson and the up quark which may be discovered at the LHC.

Chiral Dark Sector.

We present a simple and natural dark sector model in which dark matter particles arise as composite states of hidden strong dynamics and their stability is ensured by accidental symmetries. The model has only a few free parameters. In particular, the gauge symmetry of the model forbids the masses of dark quarks, and the confinement scale of the dynamics provides the unique mass scale of the model. The gauge group contains an Abelian symmetry U(1)_{D}, which couples the dark and standard model sectors through kinetic mixing. This model, despite its simple structure, has rich and distinctive phenomenology. In the case where the dark pion becomes massive due to U(1)_{D} quantum corrections, direct and indirect detection experiments can probe thermal relic dark matter which is generically a mixture of the dark pion and the dark baryon, and the Large Hadron Collider can discover the U(1)_{D} gauge boson. Alternatively, if the dark pion stays light due to a specific U(1)_{D} charge assignment of the dark quarks, then the dark pion constitutes dark radiation. The signal of this radiation is highly correlated with that of dark baryons in dark matter direct detection.