Flipped rotating axion: Baryogenesis and Dark Matter

Abstract

It is shown that the co-genesis of baryon asymmetry and dark matter can be achieved through the rotation of a spectator axion-like particle, because of a flip in the vacuum manifold's orientation at the end of inflation. This can occur if the axion has a periodic non-minimal coupling to gravity (while preserving the discrete shift symmetry) in non-oscillating inflation models, where the inflaton field is characterised by a runaway potential. Our rotating axion can generate the baryon asymmetry of the Universe through spontaneous baryogenesis, while at a later epoch it can oscillate as dark matter. We show that in order to avoid fragmentation of the axion condensate during the rotation, we require the non-minimal coupling $\xi\sim(f/m_P)^2$, where $f$ is the axion decay constant.