EPT Seminar

Date
Mon, Apr 22, 2024 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Location
PSC 3150

Description

Speaker: John Stout, Harvard

Title: de Sitter as an Axion Detector
Abstract: Axions, scalar fields with compact field spaces, are some of the most well-motivated candidates for physics beyond the Standard Model. In this talk, I will explain how inflationary correlations are uniquely sensitive to the topology of a scalar's field space, and can thus be used to distinguish axions from other light scalar fields even if they share the exact same action. I will show that axions can have a qualitatively distinct impact on a heavy field's cosmological collider signal, which can be used to directly measure the axion's decay constant.