From $U(1) \times U(1)$ Symmetry Breaking to Majoron Cosmology: Insights from NANOGrav 15-year Data

TL;DR

This paper explores a modified majoron model with a gauged $U(1)_{B-L}$ symmetry that can produce gravitational wave signals consistent with NANOGrav data, while addressing cosmological constraints and neutrino masses.

Contribution

It introduces a novel majoron model with combined global and local symmetry breaking that explains NANOGrav signals and remains consistent with cosmological observations.

Findings

Cosmic string networks produce gravitational waves matching NANOGrav spectrum.

Majoron mass $m_ ext{chi} < 10^{-23}$ eV fits the data.

Model constrains from NANOGrav are stronger than traditional cosmological bounds.

Abstract

We study the cosmology of a modified majoron model motivated by the need to protect a global $U(1)$ symmetry from gravity-induced hard explicit breaking (by $d \leq 4$ operators) at the Planck scale. The model extends the Standard Model by introducing a gauged $U(1)_{B-L}$ and an approximate global $U(1)$ symmetry, each spontaneously broken by a corresponding complex scalar singlet. This setup gives rise to a network of effectively global and local cosmic strings, whose stochastic gravitational wave signals can jointly account for the spectrum observed by the NANOGrav collaboration, particularly for majoron masses $m_{\chi} < 10^{-23}$ eV. Although the fit is not as strong as that from supermassive black hole mergers, the model still provides an alternative explanation rooted in high-energy physics. The model also generates light neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism and avoids cosmological constraints from $\Delta N_{\text{eff}}$, CMB anisotropies, and isocurvature fluctuations. Although the majoron can contribute to dark matter through thermal, coherent oscillation, and string-induced production mechanisms, its relic abundance remains subdominant in the NANOGrav-compatible region. In contrast, the measured dark matter relic density is achievable at higher $m_\chi$, though at the cost of tension with cosmological bounds. If the NANOGrav fits are viewed as constraints, given their comparatively lower Bayes factors, they yield bounds that are significantly stronger than those imposed by the CMB and other cosmological data.