Dilution of axion dark radiation by thermal inflation

Axions in the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) mechanism provide a promising solution to the strong CP problem in the standard model of particle physics. Coherently generated PQ scalar fields could dominate the energy density in the early Universe and decay into relativistic axions, which would conflict with the current dark radiation constraints. We study the possibility that a thermal inflation driven by a $U(1)$ gauged Higgs field dilutes such axions. A well-motivated extra gauged $U(1)$ would be the local $B-L$ symmetry. We also discuss the implication for the case of $U(1)_{B-L}$ and an available baryogenesis mechanism in such cosmology.