EPT Seminar

Date
Mon, Aug 26, 2019 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Location
PSC 3150

Description

Kim Berghaus, Johns Hopkins University

Title: Firing up cosmology with the dissipative axion

Abstract: Rolling scalar fields play an important role in understanding cosmology within a particle physics framework. Coupling a rolling scalar field to light degrees of freedom can source a thermal bath, thus converting potential energy efficiently to radiation. In my talk, I will illuminate why the axion of a non-abelian gauge group is the ideal candidate for this process and how it sets the stage for a minimal setup of warm inflation, as well as a potential solution to the Hubble tension.