High Quality QCD Axion at Gravitational Wave Observatories.

The axion solution to the strong CP problem is delicately sensitive to Peccei-Quinn breaking contributions that are misaligned with respect to QCD instantons. Heavy QCD axion models are appealing because they avoid this so-called quality problem. We show that generic realizations of this framework can be probed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA interferometers, through the stochastic gravitational wave (GW) signal sourced by the long-lived axionic string-domain wall network and by upcoming measurements of the neutron and proton electric dipole moments. Additionally, we provide predictions for searches at future GW observatories, which will further explore the parameter space of heavy QCD axion models.

Search for a Scalar Induced Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background in the Third LIGO-Virgo Observing Run.

The formation of primordial black holes from inflationary fluctuations is accompanied by a scalar induced gravitational wave background. We perform a Bayesian search of such background in the data from Advanced LIGO and Virgo's first, second, and third observing runs, parametrizing the peak in the curvature power spectrum by a log-normal distribution. The search shows no evidence for such a background. We place 95% confidence level upper limits on the integrated power of the curvature power spectrum peak which, for a narrow width, reaches down to 0.02 at 10^{17} Mpc^{-1}. The resulting constraints are stronger than those arising from big bang nucleosynthesis or cosmic microwave background observations. In addition, we find that the constraints from LIGO and Virgo, at their design sensitivity, and from the Einstein Telescope can compete with those related to the abundance of the formed primordial black holes.

Primordial Black Holes from the QCD Axion.

We propose a mechanism to generate primordial black holes (PBHs) that is independent of cosmological inflation and occurs slightly below the QCD phase transition. Our setup relies on the collapse of long-lived string-domain wall networks and is naturally realized in QCD axion models with domain wall number N_{DW}>1 and Peccei-Quinn symmetry broken after inflation. In our framework, dark matter is mostly composed of axions in the meV mass range along with a small fraction, Ω_{PBH}≳10^{-6}Ω_{CDM} of heavy M∼10^{4}-10^{7} M_{⊙} PBHs. The latter could play a role in alleviating some of the shortcomings of the standard cosmological model on subgalactic scales. The scenario might have distinct signatures in ongoing axion searches as well as gravitational wave observatories.

Holographic Phonons.

We present a class of holographic massive gravity models that realize a spontaneous breaking of translational symmetry-they exhibit transverse phonon modes whose speed relates to the elastic shear modulus according to elasticity theory. Massive gravity theories thus emerge as versatile and convenient theories to model generic types of translational symmetry breaking: explicit, spontaneous, and a mixture of both. The nature of the breaking is encoded in the radial dependence of the graviton mass. As an application of the model, we compute the temperature dependence of the shear modulus and find that it features a glasslike melting transition.

Electron-Phonon Interactions, Metal-Insulator Transitions, and Holographic Massive Gravity.

Massive gravity is holographically dual to "realistic" materials with momentum relaxation. The dual graviton potential encodes the phonon dynamics, and it allows for a much broader diversity than considered so far. We construct a simple family of isotropic and homogeneous materials that exhibit an interaction-driven metal-insulator transition. The transition relates to the formation of polarons-phonon-electron quasibound states that dominate the conductivities, shifting the spectral weight above a mass gap. We characterize the polaron gap, width, and dispersion.

Flux periodicities and quantum hair on holographic superconductors.

Superconductors in a cylindrical geometry respond periodically to a cylinder-threading magnetic flux, with the period changing from hc/2e to hc/e depending on whether the Aharonov-Bohm effects are suppressed. We show that holographic superconductors present a similar phenomenon, and that the different periodicities follow from classical no-hair theorems. We also give the Ginzburg-Landau description of the period-doubling phenomenon.

Non-Pauli-Fierz massive gravitons.

We study general Lorentz invariant theories of massive gravitons. We show that, contrary to the standard lore, there exist consistent theories where the graviton mass term violates Pauli-Fierz structure. For theories where the graviton is a resonance, this does not imply the existence of a scalar ghost if the deviation from a Pauli-Fierz structure becomes sufficiently small at high energies. These types of mass terms are required by any consistent realization of the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati model in higher dimension.

Cascading gravity: extending the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati model to higher dimension.

We present a generalization of the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati scenario to higher codimensions which, unlike previous attempts, is free of ghost instabilities. The 4D propagator is made regular by embedding our visible 3-brane within a 4-brane, each with their own induced gravity terms, in a flat 6D bulk. The model is ghost-free if the tension on the 3-brane is larger than a certain critical value, while the induced metric remains flat. The gravitational force law "cascades" from a 6D behavior at the largest distances followed by a 5D and finally a 4D regime at the shortest scales.