The Axion-Higgs Portal

Abstract: The phenomenology of axions and axion-like particles strongly depends on their couplings to Standard Model particles. The focus of this paper is the phenomenology of the unique dimension six operator respecting the shift symmetry: the axion-Higgs portal. We compare constraints from Higgs physics, flavor violating and radiative meson decays, bounds from atomic spectroscopy searching for fifth forces and astrophysical observables. In contrast to the QCD axion, axions interacting through the axion-Higgs portal are stable and can provide a dark matter candidate for any axion mass. We derive the parameter space for which freeze-out and freeze-in production as well as the misalignment mechanism can reproduce the observed relic abundance and compare the results with the phenomenological constraints. For comparison we also derive Higgs, flavor and spectroscopy constraints and the parameter space for which the scalar Higgs portal without derivative interactions can explain dark matter.