Dark energy from approximate U(1)_{de} symmetry

Abstract

The PLANCK observation strengthens the argument that the observed acceleration of the Universe is dominated by the invisible component of dark energy. We address how this extremely small DE density can be obtained in an ultraviolet completed theory. From two mass scales, the grand unification scale M_G and the Higgs boson mass, we parametrize this dark energy(DE). To naturally generate an extremely small DE term, we introduce an almost flat DE potential of a pseudo-Goldstone boson of an approximate global symmetry U(1)_{de} from some discrete symmetries allowed in an ultraviolet completed theory. For the DE potential to be extremely shallow, the pseudo-Goldstone boson is required not to couple to the QCD anomaly. This fixes uniquely the nonrenormalizable term generating the potential suppressed by M_G^7 in supergravity models.