arXiv subjects

Yuichiro Nakai

Publications and source records attributed to Yuichiro Nakai.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Neutron Portal and Dark Matter-Baryon Coincidence: from UV Completion to Phenomenology

We present a dynamical solution to the dark matter-baryon coincidence problem based on the neutron portal operator connecting the visible and dark sector asymmetries. This framework is motivated by the possibility that a strongly supercooled dark confinement phase transition accounts for the nano-Hz stochastic gravitational wave signal observed by pulsar timing arrays, while also generating the dark matter and baryon asymmetry in the Universe. We show that the GeV-scale mass of asymmetric dark matter can be naturally correlated with the (multi-)TeV scale cut-off for the neutron portal through its ultraviolet completion. The dark sector is governed by an approximate fixed point and confines once the heavy portal states are integrated out, dynamically generating a scale of $\mathcal{O} ({\rm GeV})$. We analyze both tree and loop-level ultraviolet completions and demonstrate how the resulting confinement scale is linked to the effective neutron portal scale. We also discuss cosmological constraints and experimental prospects in beam dump searches and colliders for probing the neutron portal.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with Non-Invertible Selection Rules

We investigate a framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) in which the quark and lepton flavor structure and suppression of flavor-changing neutral currents (FCNCs) are governed by non-invertible selection rules. By implementing such non-group-like fusion rules for matter fields, arising from gauging the outer automorphism $\mathbb{Z}_2$ of a discrete $\mathbb{Z}_N$ symmetry, we obtain realistic Yukawa textures that reproduce the observed quark and lepton masses and mixings while ensuring diagonal soft supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking masses and hence suppressing dangerous FCNC processes. We analyze mass insertion parameters under random $\mathcal{O}(1)$ coefficients and find that all flavor-violating effects are consistent with experimental limits on processes such as $μ\to e γ$ and meson mixings. We show that the Yukawa textures and soft terms remain stable under renormalization group evolution. Our results demonstrate that non-invertible selection rules provide a compelling new mechanism to address both the flavor structure and FCNC problems in supersymmetric models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Specially Embedding a Composite Axion Model

We present a novel framework of the post-inflationary composite axion to address the strong CP problem without the cosmological domain wall problem. Conventional composite axion models lead to the domain wall number greater than one, producing stable axion domain walls that overclose the Universe. We show that by considering a special embedding of the confining gauge group responsible for the composite axion as well as QCD into a larger product gauge group, the domain wall number is essentially set to unity in the ultraviolet (UV) theory. In this setup, small instanton effects associated with the UV gauge dynamics induce a controlled explicit breaking of the residual discrete symmetry, providing a bias term in the axion potential. As a result, the domain walls become unstable and decay sufficiently quickly, while the axion solution to the strong CP problem remains intact. We construct an explicit realization of this framework, identify a viable parameter region and analyze the axion dark matter abundance. Decays of exotic hadrons from the composite dynamics are also investigated. Our special-embedding UV completion renders the domain wall problem in composite axion models cosmologically harmless.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Bias with a Timer: Axion Domain Wall Decay and Dark Matter

We explore the interplay of the post-inflationary QCD axion and a light scalar field for the axion domain wall decay and dark matter (DM). The scalar field possesses a nonzero vacuum expectation value (VEV) during inflation, so that its interaction with the axion effectively serves as an explicit Peccei-Quinn (PQ) violating term. At a temperature below the PQ phase transition, the effective PQ violating interaction generates the axion potential which generally contains multiple degenerate vacua leading to the formation of the axion string-domain wall networks. The following QCD phase transition provides another contribution to the axion potential making domain walls decay before they dominate the Universe. Later, the scalar field starts to relax to the minimum of its potential with a vanishing VEV, turning off the effective PQ violating interaction so that the axion potential is aligned with the QCD vacuum. We keep track of the evolution of the axion-scalar system and discuss the production of the axion DM through the domain wall decay and the (trapped) misalignment. We find that the string-wall network in some cases can decay due to its structural instability, rather than the volume pressure, and the correct axion DM abundance is realized with the decay constant larger than that of the conventional post-inflationary QCD axion without fine tuning.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Particle Production via Rippled Bubble Walls

We investigate non-thermal particle production during first-order phase transitions in the presence of ultra-relativistic thick bubble walls with non-trivial internal structure. Extending the framework of bubble-expansion particle production, we consider bubble walls containing multiple ripples and study how such spatial modulations affect the production of heavy particles coupled to the order parameter field. By modeling an oscillatory thick-wall profile, we derive the transition probability for particle splitting processes in the wall background, and identify a new contribution associated with momentum transfer from the wall microstructure. In addition to the conventional channel, we find an enhanced production mode arising from resonant momentum exchange with the ripples. For sufficiently large numbers of ripples, the new contribution can dominate the production rate and significantly increase the abundance of particles much heavier than the phase-transition scale. Our results demonstrate that the internal structure of expanding bubble walls can play an important role in particle production and should be taken into account when assessing the cosmological implications of strongly first-order phase transitions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Transient Bias for CP Domain Wall Decay and Dark Matter

Spontaneous CP violation (SCPV) provides an attractive solution to the strong CP problem. However, SCPV after inflation suffers from the formation of CP domain walls, requiring the maximal temperature of the Universe to lie below the CP-breaking scale. In the present work, we then propose a dynamical mechanism that removes this cosmological constraint without introducing permanent explicit CPV. We consider a new scalar field that acquires a large field value with a nontrivial phase in the early Universe and induces a transient bias among degenerate CP vacua through a higher-dimensional interaction with a CP-breaking scalar field. This bias triggers the decay of CP domain walls after they form. As the new scalar field evolves toward the origin, the bias disappears, leaving the low-energy CP structure intact. We derive the conditions for successful domain wall decay and identify the viable parameter space. Furthermore, we point out that the coherent oscillation of the new scalar field naturally survives as dark matter, linking the resolution of the CP domain wall problem to the origin of dark matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Deconstructing the Extra-Dimensional Axion

We present a four-dimensional deconstruction of the extra-dimensional axion arising from a $U(1)$ gauge theory in a five-dimensional orbifold, where the axion is identified with the Wilson line of the $U(1)$ gauge field and its coupling to QCD is generated by a 5D Chern-Simons (CS) term. We construct the corresponding 4D moose (quiver) gauge theory with link scalar fields, in which the axion emerges as a collective pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson. The axion-gluon coupling is described by a gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten term, providing the 4D counterpart of the 5D CS term. We further analyze non-perturbative effects from zero-mode and ``fractional'' instanton configurations. While the latter is exponentially suppressed in the regime corresponding to the 5D description, ensuring consistency with the higher-dimensional picture, we point out that this suppression can break down for smaller instantons whose inverse size exceeds the 5D cutoff scale, leading to a potentially significant effect. We also study axion potentials induced by bulk matter fields and boundary-localized symmetry-breaking operators, reproducing the characteristic nonlocal suppression associated with propagation in the extra dimension. Our construction provides a renormalizable 4D framework with a transparent understanding of the axion shift symmetry and its quality.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Landscape of Spontaneous CP Violation

Spontaneous CP violation (SCPV) provides a promising solution to the strong CP problem, explaining the smallness of the QCD $θ$-angle while generating the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) phase. In the present work, we review and discuss the realization of SCPV in the supersymmetric framework, which addresses critical issues such as the naturalness of the scale of SCPV and the presence of problematic higher dimensional operators and radiative corrections spoiling the mechanism. It is explicitly shown that SCPV is realized along flat directions and stabilized through supersymmetry-breaking effects and a non-perturbative dynamics, predicting light SCPV sector particles feebly coupled to the Standard Model particles. Furthermore, we discuss the issue of baryon asymmetric Universe in the SCPV framework and point out that the Affleck-Dine mechanism can successfully generate the observed baryon asymmetry with a low reheating temperature compatible with the gravitino dark matter. Our framework predicts a nonzero neutron electric dipole moment which is within the reach of near-future experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Exploring the Landscape of Spontaneous CP Violation in Supersymmetric Theories

The strong CP problem remains one of the most important unresolved issues in the Standard Model. Spontaneous CP violation (SCPV) is a promising approach to the problem by assuming that CP is an exact symmetry of the Lagrangian but broken spontaneously at the vacuum, which enables the generation of the observed Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) phase without reintroducing a nonzero strong CP phase. Supersymmetry (SUSY) provides a natural framework to accommodate such a mechanism, as SUSY can not only protect the scale of SCPV from radiative corrections but also suppress problematic higher-dimensional operators generating a strong CP phase. In the present study, we explore the realization of SCPV in two distinct SUSY scenarios. First, we investigate SCPV in the exact SUSY limit by extending the spurion formalism developed in non-supersymmetric theories to identify the necessary condition for stabilizing CP-violating phases, and by analyzing the stabilization of radial vacuum expectation values through R-symmetry constraints on the superpotential. Second, we construct a model in which CP is spontaneously broken at an intermediate scale along pseudo-flat directions, stabilized by soft SUSY breaking and non-perturbative effects of a gauge theory. The latter setup predicts light scalars in the SCPV sector whose masses are determined by the SUSY breaking scale.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

High Reheating Temperature without Axion Domain Walls

We investigate a cosmological scenario in which the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry remains broken in the entire history of the Universe, thereby avoiding the formation of axion strings and domain walls. Contrary to the conventional expectation, it is demonstrated that appropriately chosen scalar interactions are able to keep the PQ symmetry broken at arbitrarily high temperatures. We carefully examine the finite-temperature effective potential in a model with two PQ breaking scalar fields. The existence of flat directions plays a vital role in suppressing axion isocurvature perturbations during inflation by stabilizing a PQ field at a large field value. The viable parameter space consistent with theoretical and observational constraints is identified. Our scenario provides a minimal path for PQ symmetry breaking that addresses both the axion domain wall and isocurvature problems while permitting arbitrarily high reheating temperatures accommodating high-scale baryogenesis scenarios such as thermal leptogenesis.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Models for the Electric Dipole Moment and Anomalous Magnetic Moment of the Tau Lepton

The Belle II experiment and other ongoing and projected lepton facilities are expected to greatly enhance the sensitivity to the electric dipole moment (EDM) and anomalous magnetic moment ($g-2$) for the tau lepton, making it timely to explore models that predict these observables. We present a class of models that generate a sizable EDM and $g-2$ of the tau lepton via radiative tau mass generation. Two benchmark models with different hypercharge assignments are investigated. The first model contains neutral fermions and charged scalars. We find that the model can predict a large signal of the tau EDM, $d_τ = \mathcal{O}(10^{-19}) \, e \, {\rm cm}$, and $g-2$, $a_τ = \mathcal{O}(10^{-5})$, which are within the reach of future updates of their measurements. In contrast, the second model, containing a charged fermion and neutral scalars, yields a similar magnitude for the $g-2$ but predicts a comparatively smaller EDM signal. Our models serve as benchmarks for new physics generating sizable EDM and $g-2$ of the tau lepton.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Postsphaleron darkogenesis

A supercooled phase transition in a nearly conformal dark sector can provide a natural setting for darkogenesis via its out-of-equilibrium dynamics, where a particle-antiparticle number asymmetry in the dark sector can be reprocessed into the visible sector, yielding the observed baryon asymmetry and an asymmetric dark matter. We consider a scenario where the number asymmetry is generated from the decay of a mother particle produced via parametric resonance during the phase transition induced due to its coupling to the dilaton associated with spontaneous breaking of scale invariance. It is shown that the correct baryon asymmetry and dark matter abundance can be realized for a dark phase transition at $\mathcal{O}(1) \, \rm GeV$, which can also explain the nano-Hz gravitational wave signal reported by pulsar timing array experiments. The scenario will be tested further in neutron-antineutron oscillation experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Interpreting Cosmic Birefringence and DESI Data with Evolving Axion in $Λ$CDM

Recent cosmological observations have revealed growing tensions with the standard $Λ$CDM model, including indications of isotropic cosmic birefringence and deviations from $w = -1$ in the dark energy equation of state, as suggested by DESI and supernova measurements. In this paper, we point out that such deviations can arise even from a subdominant energy density component. We then propose a unified framework based on a dynamical axion field that simultaneously accounts for both anomalies, providing a simple and natural extension of the standard $Λ$CDM model. In our scenario, the axion field with $2H_0\lesssim m\lesssim 6H_0$, where $H_0$ is the current Hubble constant, induces a nonzero rotation of the CMB polarization plane and modifies the present-day dark energy equation of state. This framework accommodates recent observational data with natural parameter choices, even for a string axion with a decay constant of order $10^{17}\,$GeV.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Conformal Phase Transition in Supersymmetric QCD

We construct a four-dimensional supersymmetric QCD in conformal window with a marginally relevant deformation which triggers the spontaneous breaking of (approximate) scale invariance and the subsequent confinement, generating a mass gap, at an energy scale hierarchically smaller than the Planck scale without fine-tuning. We analyze the finite temperature system and show that the phase transition associated with the breaking of conformal invariance is of the strong first order. When such a phase transition takes place at a temperature of the Universe around the electroweak scale, it generates a stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background probed by future space-based interferometers, while a conformal phase transition in a dark sector at $\mathcal{O}(1)$ GeV generates GWs to explain the reported pulsar timing array signal.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Interplay of ALP Couplings at a Muon Collider

Axion-like particles can couple to Standard Model gluons, electroweak gauge bosons, and massive fermions. A future multi-TeV muon collider provides a favorable environment to probe axion-like particles through multiple production channels, including vector boson fusion via electroweak gauge boson couplings and the top-associated production mediated by direct fermionic couplings. Motivated by the quality issue of the QCD axion, we focus on axion-like particles with masses and decay constants around the TeV scale. We explore how different axion-like particle couplings shape its production and decay modes, revealing a rich and intricate phenomenological landscape.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Wiggly dilaton: a landscape of spontaneously broken scale invariance

The dilaton emerges as a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (pNGB) associated with the spontaneous breaking of scale invariance in a nearly conformal field theory (CFT). We show the existence of a wiggly dilaton potential that contains multiple vacuum solutions in a five-dimensional (5D) holographic formulation. The wiggly feature originates from boundary potentials of a 5D axion-like scalar field, whose naturally small bulk mass parameter corresponds to a marginally-relevant deformation of the dual CFT. Depending on the energy density of a boundary 3-brane, our model can provide a relaxion potential or generate a light dilaton. However, an extremely light dilaton requires fine-tuning.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Small Instantons and the Post-Inflationary QCD Axion in a Special Product GUT

We present a new framework of grand unification that is equipped with an axion solution to the strong CP problem without a domain wall problem when the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is spontaneously broken after inflation. Our grand unified theory (GUT) is based on a symmetry breaking pattern, $SU(10) \times SU(5)_1 \rightarrow SU(5)_V \supset SU(3)_C \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y$, where $SU(5)_1$ and a special embedding of $SU(5)_2\subset SU(10)$ are broken to a diagonal subgroup $SU(5)_V$. The model contains a vector-like pair of PQ-charged fermions that transform as (anti-)fundamental representations under $SU(10)$, so that the domain wall number is one. However, after the GUT symmetry breaking, the number of vector-like pairs of PQ-charged colored fermions is larger than one, which seems to encounter the domain wall problem. This apparent inconsistency is resolved by small instanton effects on the axion potential which operate as a PQ-violating bias term and allow the decay of domain walls. We propose a domain-wall-free UV completion for an IR model where the domain wall number appears larger than one. The model gives a prediction for a dark matter axion window, which is different from that of the ordinary post-inflationary QCD axion with domain wall number one.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

High Quality QCD Axion via Electric-Magnetic Duality

We propose a novel paradigm for the QCD axion with high-quality Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry on the basis of electric-magnetic duality in the conformal window of a supersymmetric gauge theory. PQ breaking fields, that contain the QCD axion, emerge in the magnetic theory and possess a large anomalous dimension, which leads to not only generation of an intermediate scale of spontaneous PQ breaking but also significant suppression of explicit PQ symmetry breaking operators. The high PQ quality and the absence of a Landau pole in the color gauge coupling are achieved. The parameter space to realize the correct abundance of the axion dark matter (DM) predicts explicit PQ violation which may be probed by future measurements of the neutron electric dipole moment. In the other viable parameter space, the lightest supersymmetric particle can become a DM candidate. Since the model naturally accommodates a mechanism to suppress the axion isocurvature fluctuation, it provides a complete solution to the strong CP problem as well as the identity of DM.

hep-ph↗