Axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) can have weak couplings to the Standard Model which may be magnified in extreme astrophysical environments, i.e. stars, providing unique and exciting pathways toward observational signatures. In this talk, I will discuss the novel idea of how axion production at the galactic stellar population level can manifest in particularly powerful probes for axion physics. In … Read More

Abstract: Dark matter dominated dwarf galaxies are excellent targets to constrain thermal dark matter annihilation, due to their clean background in gamma-ray regime. However, the common practice in the community for estimating the J-factor, a key component in calculating the strength of the annihilation signal, may be prone to systematic uncertainties. In this talk, I will discuss a new method … Read More

Abstract:  The vacuum states of QCD generically break CP symmetry, and are parameterised by the ‘QCD theta’ variable. The strong CP problem arises because experiment shows that the amount of QCD CP violation must be exceedingly small, at odds with our generic expectation. This problem has a dynamical solution – the QCD axion –  which zeroes any observable effects of CP … Read More

Abstract:Potential non-minimal dynamics governing the dark matter interactions can have drastic implications for their phenomenology and can inform our search strategies. In this talk I advocate for meticulous studies of a broad class of next-to-minimal models, namely Confining Dark Sectors. I will argue that such dark sectors establish a general framework that encompasses many simplified models of particle dark matter and serve … Read More

Self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) provides an interesting alternative to collisionless dark matter, especially when it comes to resolving small-scale structure problems. I will present our (very) preliminary findings on gravothermal collapse in SIDM halos by incorporating velocity-dependent cross sections and going beyond the Born regime for the Yukawa potential. This allows us to explore a much broader range of parameter … Read More

Abstract: Leptogenesis has become one of the leading theories to explain the baryon asymmetry of the universe. The existence of non-zero but tiny neutrino masses has been established through neutrino oscillation experiments. The smallness of the neutrino masses can be understood by introducing heavy right-handed neutrinos. If such neutrinos were produced in the early universe and decayed out of equilibrium, … Read More

Abstract: It is well-known that CP violation is one of the necessary ingredients to generate the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. Neutral /B/mesons naturally exhibit CP violating oscillations which can be related to the baryon asymmetry through the /B/-mesogenesis mechanism. With this in mind, it is interesting to analyze how large this CP violation could be in different scenarios … Read More