Standard Model - Axion - Seesaw - H portal inflation

Abstract

Extending the Standard Model with a new complex singlet scalar, right-handed neutrinos and a vector-like quark allows to simultaneously tackle several problems in particle physics and cosmology within a constrained framework that can be falsified by future probes of the cosmic microwave background, as well as by upcoming axion experiments. This Standard Model - Axion - Seesaw - H portal inflation theory (SMASH) provides predictive inflation and $H$ boson stabilization, and can explain baryogenesis, light neutrino masses, dark matter and the strong CP problem. The model contains a unique new mass scale which coincides with the axion decay constant, and also sets the scale for perturbative lepton-number violation processes. Testable predictions include a minimum value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio of $r\gtrsim 0.004$, a running of the spectral index $\alpha \gtrsim -8\times 10^{-4}$, a change $\delta N_{\mathrm{eff}}\sim 0.03$ in the number of effective relativistic neutrinos, and an axion mass in the range $50\mu eV\le m_A\le 200\mu eV$.

Comments: 8 pages, 2 figures, Contribution to the proceedings of the 52nd Rencontres de Moriond conference, Electroweak session, La Thuile (Italy) 2017. v2: References added