Axion quark nuggets. Dark matter and matter–antimatter asymmetry: Theory, observations and future experiments

Abstract

We review a testable, the axion quark nugget (AQN) model outside of the standard WIMP paradigm. The model was originally invented to explain the observed similarity between the dark and the visible components, [Formula: see text], in a natural way as both types of matter are formed during the same QCD transition and proportional to the same dimensional fundamental parameter of the system, [Formula: see text]. In this framework, the baryogenesis is actually a charge segregation (rather than charge generation) process which is operational due to the [Formula: see text]-odd axion field, while the global baryon number of the Universe remains zero. The nuggets and anti-nuggets are strongly interacting but macroscopically large objects with approximately nuclear density. We overview several specific recent applications of this framework. First, we discuss the “solar corona mystery” when the so-called nanoflares are identified with the AQN annihilation events in corona. Secondly, we review a proposal that the recently observed by the Telescope Array puzzling events is a result of the annihilation events of the AQNs under thunderstorm. Finally, we overview a broadband strategy which could lead to the discovery the AQN-induced axions representing the heart of the construction.