Heavier W boson, dark matter, and gravitational waves from strings in an SO(10) axion model

초록

Inspired by the recent determination of the W-boson mass by the CDF collaboration, we revisit an SO(10) axion model in which a scalar SU(2)(L) triplet field with zero hypercharge is known to acquire a nonzero vacuum expectation value (VEV) through its mixing with the Standard Model Higgs doublet. The triplet VEV provides a sizable contribution to the W mass, which helps in significantly lowering the 7 sigma discrepancy between the Standard Model prediction and the higher CDF value for m(W). We show that the relatively light triplet mass (similar to(1-50) TeV) is compatible with gauge coupling unification and observable proton decay. An unbroken Z(2) gauge symmetry, coupled with the presence of two fermionic 10-plets required to resolve the axion domain wall problem means that both axions and a stable intermediate mass (similar to 10(9)-10(10) GeV) fermion are plausible dark matter candidates. We also display the gravitational wave spectrum from the intermediate scale topologically stable cosmic strings predicted by the model.

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