Multiple-axion framework

Abstract

We describe a systematic framework for periodic potentials of arbitrary dimension, such as those governing multiple axions. A novel type of alignment renders even complex theories analytically tractable. Theories with $\ensuremath{\sim}100$ axions and random parameters have an exponential number of metastable vacua. Decay from a metastable minimum can occur via a thin-wall instanton and allows for a sufficient period of slow-roll inflation that ends in a vacuum containing axion dark matter and a cosmological constant, both consistent with current observations. Hence, this model can reproduce many macroscopic features of our Universe without tuned parameters.