An SU(2) Gauge Principle for the Cosmic Microwave Background: Perspectives on the Dark Sector of the Cosmological Model

Abstract

We review consequences for the radiation and dark sectors of the cosmological model arising from the postulate that the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is governed by an SU(2) rather than a U(1) gauge principle. We also speculate on the possibility of actively assisted structure formation due to the de-percolation of lump-like configurations of condensed ultralight axions with a Peccei–Quinn scale comparable to the Planck mass. The chiral-anomaly induced potential of the axion condensate receives contributions from SU(2)/SU(3) Yang–Mills factors of hierarchically separated scales which act in a screened (reduced) way in confining phases.

Keywords

• light scalar fields
• axial anomaly
• SU(2) Yang–Mills thermodynamics
• de-percolation of axionic lumps
• cosmological and galactic dark-matter densities