# Publications by Joseph Conlon

## Galaxy cluster thermal x-ray spectra constrain axionlike particles

Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 93 (2016)

JP Conlon, AJ Powell, MCD Marsh

© 2016 American Physical Society.Axionlike particles (ALPs) and photons interconvert in the presence of a magnetic field. At keV energies in the environment of galaxy clusters, the conversion probability can become unsuppressed for light ALPs. Conversion of thermal x-ray photons into ALPs can introduce a steplike feature into the cluster thermal bremsstrahlung spectrum, and we argue that existing x-ray data on galaxy clusters should be sufficient to extend bounds on ALPs in the low-mass region ma1×10-12 eV down to M∼7×1011 GeV, and that for 1011 GeV<M1012 GeV light ALPs give rise to interesting and unique observational signatures that may be probed by existing and upcoming x-ray (and potentially x-ray polarization) observations of galaxy clusters.

## Axion decay constants away from the lamppost

Journal of High Energy Physics 2016 (2016)

JP Conlon, S Krippendorf

© 2016, The Author(s).Abstract: It is unknown whether a bound on axion field ranges exists within quantum gravity. We study axion field ranges using extended supersymmetry, in particular allowing an analysis within strongly coupled regions of moduli space. We apply this strategy to Calabi-Yau compactifications with one and two Kähler moduli. We relate the maximally allowable decay constant to geometric properties of the underlying Calabi-Yau geometry. In all examples we find a maximal field range close to the reduced Planck mass (with the largest field range being 3.25 MP). On this perspective, field ranges relate to the intersection and instanton numbers of the underlying Calabi-Yau geometry.

## A 3.55 keV line from DM -> a -> gamma predictions for cool-core and non-cool-core clusters

JOURNAL OF COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (2015) ARTN 019

JP Conlon, AJ Powell

## ALP conversion and the soft X-ray excess in the outskirts of the Coma cluster

JOURNAL OF COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (2015) ARTN 011

D Kraljic, M Rummel, JP Conlon

## Observational consistency and future predictions for a 3.5 keV ALP to photon line

JOURNAL OF COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (2015) ARTN 013

PD Alvarez, JP Conlon, FV Day, MCD Marsh, M Rummel

## 3.55 keV photon lines from axion to photon conversion in the Milky Way and M31

JOURNAL OF COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (2014) ARTN 033

JP Conlon, FV Day

## Soft X-ray excess in the Coma cluster from a Cosmic Axion Background

JOURNAL OF COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (2014) ARTN 026

S Angus, JP Conlon, MCD Marsh, AJ Powell, LT Witkowski

## A note on the magnitude of the flux superpotential

JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS (2014) ARTN 027

M Cicoli, JP Conlon, A Maharana, F Quevedo

## 3.55 keV photon line and its morphology from a 3.55 keV axionlike particle line

PHYSICAL REVIEW D 90 (2014) ARTN 023540

M Cicoli, JP Conlon, MCD Marsh, M Rummel

## Excess Astrophysical Photons from a 0.1–1 keV Cosmic Axion Background

Physics Review Letters 111 (2013) 15130

J Conlon, MCD Marsh

## Dark radiation in LARGE volume models

PHYSICAL REVIEW D 87 (2013) ARTN 043520

M Cicoli, JP Conlon, F Quevedo

## Soft supersymmetry breaking in anisotropic LARGE volume compactifications

JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS (2013) ARTN 071

S Angus, JP Conlon

## Superpotential de-sequestering in string models

Journal of High Energy Physics 2013 (2013)

M Berg, JP Conlon, D Marsh, LT Witkowski

Non-perturbative superpotential cross-couplings between visible sector matter and Kähler moduli can lead to significant flavour-changing neutral currents in compactifications of type IIB string theory. Here, we compute corrections to Yukawa couplings in orbifold models with chiral matter localised on D3-branes and non-perturbative effects on distant D7-branes. By evaluating a threshold correction to the D7-brane gauge coupling, we determine conditions under which the non-perturbative corrections to the Yukawa couplings appear. The flavour structure of the induced Yukawa coupling generically fails to be aligned with the tree-level flavour structure. We check our results by also evaluating a correlation function of two D7-brane gauginos and a D3-brane Yukawa coupling. Finally, by calculating a string amplitude between n hidden scalars and visible matter we show how non-vanishing vacuum expectation values of distant D7-brane scalars, if present, may correct visible Yukawa couplings with a flavour structure that differs from the tree-level flavour structure. © 2013 SISSA, Trieste, Italy.

## Cosmological natural selection and the purpose of the universe

Complexity 18 (2013) 48-56

A Gardner, JP Conlon

The cosmological natural selection (CNS) hypothesis holds that the fundamental constants of nature have been fine-tuned by an evolutionary process in which universes produce daughter universes via the formation of black holes. Here, we formulate the CNS hypothesis using standard mathematical tools of evolutionary biology. Specifically, we capture the dynamics of CNS using Price's equation, and we capture the adaptive purpose of the universe using an optimization program. We establish mathematical correspondences between the dynamics and optimization formalisms, confirming that CNS acts according to a formal design objective, with successive generations of universes appearing designed to produce black holes. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

## Anomaly Mediation in Superstring Theory

ArXiv (0)

JP Conlon, M Goodsell, E Palti

We study anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking in type IIB string theory and use our results to test the supergravity formula for anomaly mediated gaugino masses. We compute 1-loop gaugino masses for models of D3-branes on orbifold singularities with 3-form fluxes by calculating the annulus correlator of 3-form flux and two gauginos in the zero momentum limit. Consistent with supergravity expectations we find both anomalous and running contributions to 1-loop gaugino masses. For background Neveu-Schwarz H-flux we find an exact match with the supergravity formula. For Ramond-Ramond flux there is an off-shell ambiguity that precludes a full matching. The anomaly mediated gaugino masses, while determined by the infrared spectrum, arise from an explicit sum over UV open string winding modes. We also calculate brane-to-brane tree-level gravity mediated gaugino masses and show that there are two contributions coming from the dilaton and from the twisted modes, which are suppressed by the full T^6 volume and the untwisted T^2 volume respectively.

## Moduli redefinitions and moduli stabilisation

Journal of High Energy Physics 2010 (2010)

JP Conlon, FG Pedro

Field redefinitions occur in string compactifications at the one loop level. We review arguments for why such redefinitions occur and study their effect on moduli stabilisation and supersymmetry breaking in the LARGE volume scenario. For small moduli, although the effect of such redefinitions can be larger than that of the α' corrections in both the Kähler and scalar potentials, they do not alter the structure of the scalar potential. For the less well motivated case of large moduli, the redefinitions can dominate all other terms in the scalar potential. We also study the effect of redefinitions on the structure of supersymmetry breaking and soft terms. © SISSA 2010.

## One-loop Yukawa Couplings in Local Models

ArXiv (0)

JP Conlon, M Goodsell, E Palti

We calculate the one-loop Yukawa couplings and threshold corrections for supersymmetric local models of branes at singularities in type IIB string theory. We compute the corrections coming both from wavefunction and vertex renormalisation. The former comes in the IR from conventional field theory running and in the UV from threshold corrections that cause it to run from the winding scale associated to the full Calabi-Yau volume. The vertex correction is naively absent as it appears to correspond to superpotential renormalisation. However, we find that while the Wilsonian superpotential is not renormalised there is a physical vertex correction in the 1PI action associated to light particle loops.

## Gauge threshold corrections for local type-IIB/F-theory GUTs

PHYSICAL REVIEW D 80 (2009) ARTN 106004

JP Conlon, E Palti

## Wave Functions and Yukawa Couplings in Local String Compactifications

ArXiv (0)

JP Conlon, A Maharana, F Quevedo

We consider local models of magnetised D7 branes in IIB string compactifications, focussing on cases where an explicit metric can be written for the local 4-cycle. The presence of an explicit metric allows analytic expressions for the gauge bundle and for the chiral matter wavefunctions through solving the Dirac and Laplace equations. The triple overlap of the normalised matter wavefunctions generates the physical Yukawa couplings. Our main examples are the cases of D7 branes on P1xP1 and P2. We consider both supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric gauge backgrounds and both Abelian and non-Abelian gauge bundles. We briefly outline potential phenomenological applications of our results.

## On the Explicit Construction and Statistics of Calabi-Yau Flux Vacua

ArXiv (0)

JP Conlon, F Quevedo

We explicitly construct and study the statistics of flux vacua for type IIB string theory on an orientifold of the Calabi-Yau hypersurface $P^4_{[1,1,2,2,6]}$, parametrised by two relevant complex structure moduli. We solve for these moduli and the dilaton field in terms of the set of integers defining the 3-form fluxes and examine the distribution of vacua. We compare our numerical results with the predictions of the Ashok-Douglas density $\det (-R - \omega)$, finding good overall agreement in different regions of moduli space. The number of vacua are found to scale with the distance in flux space. Vacua cluster in the region close to the conifold singularity. Large supersymmetry breaking is more generic but supersymmetric and hierarchical supersymmetry breaking vacua can also be obtained. In particular, the small superpotentials and large dilaton VEVs needed to obtain de Sitter space in a controllable approximation are possible but not generic. We argue that in a general flux compactification, the rank of the gauge group coming from D3 branes could be statistically preferred to be very small.