Dark Matter and Baryon Asymmetry from Monopole-Axion Interactions

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new mechanism where interactions between a rotating QCD axion and dark magnetic monopoles lead to dark matter production and baryon asymmetry, predicting a low axion decay constant below 10^9 GeV.

Contribution

It introduces a novel monopole-axion interaction mechanism that explains dark matter and baryon asymmetry simultaneously, with specific predictions on the axion decay constant.

Findings

Axion kinetic energy dissipated via monopole interactions.

Dark matter abundance explained by axion depletion.

Baryon asymmetry generated through axiogenesis.

Abstract

We introduce a novel mechanism where the kinetic energy of a rotating axion can be dissipated by the interactions with dark magnetic monopoles. This mechanism leads to a framework where the QCD axion and dark monopoles account for the dark matter density, and the observed baryon asymmetry is generated through the rotating QCD axion via axiogenesis. The monopoles acquire masses from a nonzero axion field, and they can transition between different quantized dyonic levels in the presence of a rotating axion field. The axion kinetic energy is dissipated by the transition, and thus the axion abundance is depleted to the observed dark matter abundance. We predict that the axion decay constant should be below $10^9$ GeV to explain the observed dark matter and baryon densities.