Large-scale structure probes of the post-inflationary axiverse

Abstract We study the cosmology of axions in the post-inflationary scenario, where random initial conditions and the ensuing string-domain-wall network generate an isocurvature power spectrum. Axions radiated from strings behave as warm, wave-like dark matter: When they constitute the full dark matter abundance, free streaming sets the strongest bounds on their mass. For subdominant fractions, despite being warm, they still lead to an overall enhancement of structure growth in the dominant component, seeded by the axion white-noise fluctuations. We search for this effect using the ultraviolet luminosity function (UVLF) of galaxies at z = 4–10, probing k ≃ 0.5–10 Mpc -1 . Combining the UVLF analysis with Lyman- α and CMB data yields the leading cosmological limits on post-inflationary axion dark matter, sensitive to tiny fractions for m a ≲ 10 -21 eV. As a byproduct, we obtain new constraints on generic white-noise power spectra from the UVLF. These results apply broadly to scenarios that generate similar isocurvature perturbations, linking early-universe field dynamics to high-redshift structure formation.