We study the impact of QCD axion strings in the cosmological history of electroweak (EW) symmetry breaking, focussing on the minimal KSVZ axion model. We consider the case of the pure SM Higgs potential as well as a simple scenario with a first order EW phase transition. We capture the effect of the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) sector within an effective-theory approach for the Higgs field, where the axion string core and the heavy PQ states are integrated out. The relevant parameters in this effective theory are controlled by the size of the portal coupling between the Higgs and the PQ scalar, and the mass of the PQ radial excitation. We determine the range of portal couplings for which the axion strings can strongly affect the dynamics of EW symmetry breaking. In the case of a first order EW phase transition, the strings can act as seeds by either catalyzing the nucleation of (non-spherical) bubbles, or leading to the completion of the phase transition by triggering a classical instability.
A previously discussed clockwork mechanism within heterotic M-theory is applied to its axion landscape. We identify a unique candidate for a QCD-axion with a decay constant in the preferred "axion window" around $10^{11}\,$GeV. It is accompanied by at least one ultra-light axion that couples predominantly to hidden sector gauge groups.
Coherently Enhanced Axion-Photon Conversion via Seeded Photons for Short-Pulse Axion Detection
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交大李政道研究所）；School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学物理与天文学院）；Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学国际前沿科学协同创新中心）
Assuming QCD exhibits an interacting fixed-point behaviour in the ultraviolet regime, I argue that the axion can be substantially heavier than in the conventional case of asymptotically free QCD due to the enhanced contribution of small size instantons to its mass.
String theoretic axion is a prime candidate for the QCD axion solving the strong CP problem. For a successful realization of the QCD axion in string theory, one needs to stabilize moduli including the scalar partner (saxion) of the QCD axion, while keeping the QCD axion unfixed until the low energy QCD instanton effects are turned on. We note that a simple generalization of KKLT moduli stabilization provides such set-up realizing the axion solution to the strong CP problem. Although some details of moduli stabilization are different from the original KKLT scenario, this set-up leads to the mir…
A deeper understanding of the vacuum structure in QCD invites one to rethink certain aspects of the axion physics. The recent advances are mostly due to developments in supersymmetric gauge theories and the brane theory, in which QCD can be embedded. They include, but are not limited to, the studies of metastable vacua in multicolor gluodynamics, and the domain walls. We briefly review basics of the axion physics and then present a modern perspective on a rich interplay between the QCD vacuum structure and axion physics.
We propose an axionic QCD string scenario based on the original flux-tube model by Kogut and Susskind, and then incorporate it into a gauged Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model. Axial anomaly is studied by a new topological coupling from the string side, and by the 't Hooft vortex from the NJL side, respectively. The nontrivial phase distribution of the quark condensate plays an important role in this scenario.
We consider the class of effective supergravity theories from the weakly coupled heterotic string in which local supersymmetry is broken by gaugino condensation in a hidden sector, with dilaton stabilization achieved through corrections to the classical dilaton Kähler potential. If there is a single hidden condensing (simple) gauge group, the axion is massless (up to contributions from higher dimension operators) above the QCD condensation scale. We show how the standard relation between the axion mass and its Planck scale coupling constant is modified in this class of models due to a contribu…
A holographic model of QCD axion is presented. It describes a composite axion in the KSVZ class. Having a gravity dual, based on the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model, it is calculable in the strongly coupled regime. Its basic properties are derived, including the low energy Lagrangian, from which the axion couplings to nucleons can be derived. Basic features in the deconfined phase are studied as well. In particular, the temperature dependence of the axion mass is extracted from the topological susceptibility. As an aside, the topological susceptibility of strongly coupled ${\cal N}=4$ SYM at finit…
We study in detail MSW-like resonant conversions of QCD axions into hidden axions, including cases where the adiabaticity condition is only marginally satisfied, and where anharmonic effects are non-negligible. When the resonant conversion is efficient, the QCD axion abundance is suppressed by the hidden and QCD axion mass ratio. We find that, when the resonant conversion is incomplete due to a weak violation of the adiabaticity, the CDM isocurvature perturbations can be significantly suppressed, while non-Gaussianity of the isocurvature perturbations generically remain unsuppressed. The isocu…
We investigate the conditions for a QCD axion to coexist with stabilised moduli in string compactifications. We show how the simplest approaches to moduli stabilisation give unacceptably large masses to the axions. We observe that solving the F-term equations is insufficient for realistic moduli stabilisation and give a no-go theorem on supersymmetric moduli stabilisation with unfixed axions applicable to all string compactifications and relevant to much current work. We demonstrate how nonsupersymmetric moduli stabilisation with unfixed axions can be realised. We finally outline how to stabil…
We use the chiral Lagrangian to investigate the global properties of the $N$-flavor QCD vacuum as a function of the $θ$ parameter. In the case of exact quark degeneracy we find evidence for first order phase transitions at $θ= π\cdot ({\rm odd~ integer})$. The first order transitions are smoothed by quark mass splittings, although interesting effects remain at realistic quark masses. We emphasize the role of the $η'$ condensate in our analysis. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results on the internal hadronic structure of axion domain walls and axion cosmology.
We construct a string-inspired model, motivated by the flavored Peccei-Quinn (PQ) axions, as a useful bridge between flavor physics and string theory. The key feature is two anomalous gauged $U(1)$ symmetries, responsible for both the fermion mass hierarchy problem of the standard model and the strong CP problem, that combine string theory with flavor physics and severely constrain the form of the F- and D-term contributions to the potential. In the context of supersymmetric moduli stabilization we stabilize the size moduli with positive masses while leaving two axions massless and one axion m…
We construct and study a fundamental field theory of the QCD axion: all couplings flow to zero in the infinite-energy limit realizing the totally asymptotically free (TAF) scenario. Some observable quantities (such as the masses of new quarks and scalars) are predicted at low energies by the TAF requirement in terms of gauge couplings and a vector-boson mass. Here the minimal model of this sort is explored; the axion sector is charged under an SU(2) gauge group and a dark photon appears at low energies. This model can be TAF and feature an absolutely stable vacuum at the same time.
Large N gluodynamics was shown to have a set of metastable vacua with the gluonic domain walls interpolating between them. The walls may separate the genuine vacuum from an excited one, or two excited vacua which are unstable at finite N (here N is the number of colors). One may attempt to stabilize them by switching on the axion field. We study how the light quarks and the axion affect the structure of the domain walls. In pure gluodynamics (with the axion field) the axion walls acquire a very hard gluonic core. Thus, we deal with a wall "sandwich" which is stable at finite N. In the case of …
Hidden axions may be coupled to the standard model particles through a kinetic or mass mixing with QCD axion. We study a scenario in which a hidden axion constitutes a part of or the whole of dark matter and decays into photons through the mixing, explaining the 3.5 keV X-ray line signal. Interestingly, the required long lifetime of the hidden axion dark matter can be realized for the QCD axion decay constant at an intermediate scale, if the mixing is sufficiently small. In such a two component dark matter scenario, the primordial density perturbations of the hidden axion can be highly non-Gau…
We propose a new mechanism to suppress the axion isocurvature perturbation, while producing the right amount of axion dark matter, within the framework of supersymmetric axion models with the axion scale induced by supersymmetry breaking. The mechanism involves an intermediate phase transition to generate the Higgs μ-parameter, before which the weak scale is comparable to the axion scale and the resulting stronger QCD yields an axion mass heavier than the Hubble scale over a certain period. Combined with that the Hubble-induced axion scale during the primordial inflation is well above the inte…
We study a level crossing between the QCD axion and an axion-like particle, focusing on the recently found phenomenon, the axion roulette, where the axion-like particle runs along the potential, passing through many crests and troughs, until it gets trapped in one of the potential minima. We perform detailed numerical calculations to determine the parameter space where the axion roulette takes place, and as a result domain walls are likely formed. The domain wall network without cosmic strings is practically stable, and it is nothing but a cosmological disaster. In a certain case, one can make…
We study the cosmological evolution of the QCD axion coupled to hidden photons. For a moderately strong coupling, the motion of the axion field leads to an explosive production of hidden photons by tachyonic instability. We use lattice simulations to evaluate the cosmological abundance of the QCD axion. In doing so, we incorporate the backreaction of the produced hidden photons on the axion dynamics, which becomes significant in the non-linear regime. We find that the axion abundance is suppressed by at most ${\cal O}(10^{2})$ for the decay constant $f_a = 10^{16}$ GeV, compared to the case wi…
Within a string cosmology context, the large scale temperature anisotropies may arise from the contribution of seeds to the metric fluctuations. We study the cases of electromagnetic and axion seeds. We find that massless or very light axions can lead to a flat or slightly tilted blue spectrum, that fits current data.
We show that the QCD axion can drive inflation via a series of tunneling events. For axion models with a softly broken $Z_N$ symmetry, the axion potential has a series of $N$ local minima and may be modeled by a tilted cosine. Chain inflation results along this tilted cosine: the field tunnels from an initial minimum near the top of the potential through a series of ever lower minima to the bottom. This results in sufficient inflation and reheating. QCD axions, potentially detectable in current searches, may thus simultaneously solve problems in particle physics and provide inflation.
We examine in the context of supersymmetric models whether the usual cosmological upper bound on the axion decay constant can be relaxed by assuming a period of stronger QCD in the early universe. By evaluating the axion potential in the early universe and also taking into account the dilaton potential energy, it is argued that a stronger QCD is not useful for raising up the bound.
The axion solution to the strong CP problem is delicately sensitive to Peccei-Quinn breaking contributions that are misaligned with respect to QCD instantons. Heavy QCD axion models are appealing because they avoid this so-called "quality problem". We show that generic realizations of this framework can be probed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA interferometers, through the stochastic gravitational wave (GW) signal sourced by the long-lived axionic string-domain wall network, and by upcoming measurements of the neutron and proton Electric Dipole Moments. Additionally, we provide predictions for searche…
Max-Planck-Institut für Physik（马克斯·普朗克物理研究所）；Arnold Sommerfeld Center Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München（路德维希-马克西米利安慕尼黑大学阿诺德·索末菲中心）；Institute of Physics École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)（洛桑联邦理工学院物理研究所）
We discuss the idea that the model-independent (MI) axion of string theory is the source of quintessential dark energy. The scenario is completed with a composite QCD axion from hidden sector squark condensation that could serve as dark matter candidate. The mechanism relies on the fact that the hidden sector anomaly contribution to the composite axion is much smaller than the QCD anomaly term. This intuitively surprising scenario is based on the fact that below the hidden sector scale $Λ_h$ there are many light hidden sector quarks. Simply, by counting engineering dimensions the hidden sector…
The recent BICEP2 result shows that the Universe once has gone through the vacuum with the GUT scale energy density. The implied high scale inflation nullifies the dilution idea of topological defects, strings and domain walls, of the axionic system. In particular, domain walls are disastrous if the domain wall problem with domain-wall number greater than 1 is present. We argue that the model-independent axion in string compactification with the anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry resolves the domain wall problem naturally with a symmetry principle.
The axion solution of the strong CP problem is reviewed together with the other strong CP solutions. We also point out the quintessential axion(quintaxion) whose potential can be extremely flat due to the tiny ratio of the hidden sector quark mass and the intermediate hidden sector scale. The quintaxion candidates are supposed to be the string theory axions, the model independent or the model dependent axions.
Taken individually, magnetic monopoles and axions are both well-motivated aspects of physics beyond the Standard Model. We demonstrate that by virtue of the Witten effect, their interplay is furthermore nontrivial; monopoles break the corresponding axial symmetries explicitly and result in an axion potential lacking the usual instanton-derived exponential suppression factor. As axions are distinguished by their extremely weak interactions, any regime where their effects are enhanced may be of interest. As an application of these findings, we demonstrate that a phenomenologically acceptable pop…
We investigate the phenomenology of QCD axions and axionlike particles in a scenario with two eras of inflation. In particular, we describe the possible solutions for the QCD axion field equation after the second inflation and reheating. We calculate the dilution numerically for QCD axions and give an analytic approximation for axionlike particles. While it has been realised before that such a scenario can dilute the axion energy density and open up the parameter space for the axion decay constant $f_A$, we find that even a small increase in the relative QCD axion energy density is possible.
In this paper, we consider a possibility that the temperature anisotropy of cosmic microwave background (CMB) is dominantly generated by the primordial fluctuations of QCD-axion like particles under a circumstance that inflaton's perturbation is too small to explain the CMB anisotropy. Since the axion potential is generated by acquiring its energy from radiation, the primordial fluctuations of the axion field generated in the inflation era are correlated with the CMB anisotropies. Consequently, the observations stringently constrain a model of the axion and the early universe scenario. The fol…
String and M-theory compactifications generically have compact moduli which can potentially act as the QCD axion. However, as demonstrated here, such a compact modulus can not play the role of a QCD axion and solve the strong CP problem if gravitational waves interpreted as arising from inflation with Hubble constant $H_inf \gsim 10^{13}$ GeV are observed by the PLANCK polarimetry experiment. In this case axion fluctuations generated during inflation would leave a measurable isocurvature and/or non-Gaussian imprint in the spectrum of primordial temperature fluctuations. This conclusion is inde…
In a previous work, we analyzed collapsing axion stars using the low-energy instanton potential, showing that the total energy is always bounded and that collapsing axion stars do not form black holes. In this paper, we provide a proof that the conclusions are unchanged when using instead the more general chiral potential for QCD axions.
The QCD axion acquires the potential through the non-perturbative effect of the QCD matters around the QCD phase transition. During this period, the direct interaction between the axion and the QCD matters sets in. Focusing on the impact of this direct interaction, we propose two scenarios where the fluctuation of the axion can rapidly grow, potentially leading to the formation of axion miniclusters even if the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry was already broken during inflation. The first scenario assumes that the primordial curvature perturbation at the horizon scale during the QCD epoch was signi…
The QCD axion is one of the most appealing candidates for the dark matter in the Universe. In this article, we discuss the possibility to predict the axion mass in the context of a simple renormalizable grand unified theory where the Peccei-Quinn scale is determined by the unification scale. In this framework, the axion mass is predicted to be in the range $m_a \simeq (3 - 13) \times 10^{-9} \ \rm{eV}$. We study the axion phenomenology and find that the ABRACADABRA and CASPEr-Electric experiments will be able to fully probe this mass window.
We demonstrate that the observed cosmological excess of matter over antimatter may originate from a heavy QCD axion that solves the strong CP problem but has a mass much larger than that given by the Standard Model QCD strong dynamics. We investigate a rotation of the heavy QCD axion in field space, which is transferred into a baryon asymmetry through weak and strong sphaleron processes. This provides a strong cosmological motivation for heavy QCD axions, which are of high experimental interest. The viable parameter space has an axion mass $m_a$ between 1~MeV and 10 GeV and a decay constant $f…
The physical origin of the strong CP problem in QCD, rooted in the structures of the vacuum of the standard model, is reviewed. The chiral solution to this problem, with its accompanying axion, is explained and various characteristics of axions are detailed. Although visible axion models are excluded experimentally, models with very light and very weakly coupled axions are still tenable. The astrophysical and cosmological implications of such axion models are discussed, along with ongoing experimental attempts to detect such, so called, invisible axions.
We show that the required high quality of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry can be naturally explained in the aligned QCD axion models where the QCD axion arises from multiple axions with decay constants much smaller than the axion window, e.g., around the weak scale. Even in the presence of general Planck-suppressed Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking operators, the effective strong CP phase remains sufficiently small in contrast to the standard axion models without the alignment. The QCD axion potential has small or large modulations due to the symmetry breaking operators, which can significantly affect …
We explore whether the axion which solves the strong CP problem can naturally be much lighter than the canonical QCD axion. The $Z_\mathcal{N}$ symmetry proposed by Hook, with $\mathcal{N}$ mirror and degenerate worlds coexisting in Nature and linked by the axion field, is considered in terms of generic effective axion couplings. We show that the total potential is safely approximated by a single cosine in the large $\mathcal{N}$ limit, and we determine the analytical formula for the exponentially suppressed axion mass. The resulting universal enhancement of all axion interactions relative to …
We point out that a QCD axion solving the strong CP problem can arise naturally from parity-odd gauge field C_M in 5-dimensional (5D) orbifold field theory. The required axion coupling to the QCD anomaly comes from the 5D Chern-Simons coupling, and all other unwanted U(1)_{PQ} breaking axion couplings can be avoided naturally by the 5D gauge symmetry of C_M and the 5D locality. If the fifth dimension is warped, the resulting axion scale is suppressed by small warp factor compared to the Planck scale, thereby the model can generate naturally an intermediate axion scale f_a=10^{10} - 10^{12}GeV.
We argue that the QCD axion can arise from many aligned axions with decay constants much smaller than the conventional axion window. If the typical decay constant is of {\cal O}{(100)} GeV to 1 TeV, one or more of the axions or saxions may account for the recently found diphoton excess at \sim 750 GeV. Our scenario predicts many axions and saxions coupled to gluons with decay constants of order the weak scale, and therefore many collider signatures by heavy axions and saxions will show up at different energy scales. In particular, if the inferred broad decay width is due to multiple axions or …
Max-Planck-Institut für Physik（马克斯·普朗克物理研究所）；Arnold Sommerfeld Center Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München（慕尼黑大学阿诺德·索末菲中心）；Institute of Physics École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)（洛桑联邦理工学院物理研究所）
I discuss the essential features of the QCD axion: the strong CP solution and hence its theoretical necessity. I also review the effects of the QCD axion on astrophysics and cosmology, in particular with emphasis on its role in the dark matter component together with its supersymmetric partner axino. It is pointed out that string theory may or may not give a detectable QCD axion.
The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle postulated by the Peccei-Quinn theory to resolve the strong CP problem in QCD. If axions exist and have low mass, they are a candidate for dark matter as well. So far our knowledge of the properties of the QCD axion rests on semi-classical arguments and effective theory. In this work we perform, for the first time, a fully dynamical investigation of the Peccei-Quinn theory, focussing on the axion mass, by simulating the theory on the lattice. The results of the simulation are found to be in conflict with present axion phenomenology.
Can QCD Axions Survive the Cosmological Constant Problem?
University of Sheffield（谢菲尔德大学）；Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics（理论物理前沿研究所）；McMaster University（麦克马斯特大学）；Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies（都柏林高等研究院）
In the framework where the strong coupling is dynamical, the QCD sector may confine at a much higher temperature than it would in the Standard Model, and the temperature-dependent mass of the QCD axion evolves in a non-trivial way. We find that, depending on the evolution of $Λ_{\mathrm{QCD}}$, the axion field may undergo multiple distinct phases of damping and oscillation leading generically to a suppression of its relic abundance. Such a suppression could therefore open up a wide range of parameter space, resurrecting in particular axion dark-matter models with a large Peccei-Quinn scale $f_…
The QCD axion couplings of various invisible axion models are presented. In particular, the exact global symmetry U(1)$_{\rm PQ}$ in the superpotential is possible for the anomalous U(1) from string compactification, broken only by the gauge anomalies at one loop level, and is shown to have the resultant invisible axion coupling to photon, $c_{aγγ}\ge \frac83-c_{aγγ}^{\rm ch\,br}$ where $c_{aγγ}^{\rm ch\,br}\simeq 2$. However, this bound is not applicable in approximate U(1)$_{\rm PQ}$ models with sufficiently suppressed U(1)$_{\rm PQ}$-breaking superpotential terms. We also present a simple m…
