Related papers: Compact extra-dimensions as solution to the strong…
I describe how the QCD vacuum structure, necessary to resolve the $U(1)_A$ problem, predicts the presence of a P, T and CP violating term proportional to the vacuum angle $\bar{\theta}$. To agree with experimental bounds, however, this…
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…
We point out that the long-standing strong CP problem may be resolved by an anthropic argument. The key ideas are: (i) to allow explicit breaking(s) of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry which reduces the strong CP problem to the cosmological…
We present a connection between two known solutions to the strong-CP problem: the standard introduction of axions and the extra-dimensional one, relying on topological arguments. Using an equivalent lower-dimensional set-up with a warped…
We suggest a new solution to the strong CP problem. The solution is based on the proper use of the boundary conditions for the QCD generating functional integral. We expand the perturbative boundary conditions to both perturbative and…
I discuss how anomalies affect classical symmetries and how, in turn, the non-trivial nature of the gauge theory vacuum makes these quantum corrections troublesome. Although no solution seems in sight for the cosmological constant problem,…
Solutions of the Strong CP Problem based on the spontaneous breaking of CP must feature a non-generic structure and simultaneously explain a coincidence between a priori unrelated CP-even and CP-odd mass scales. We show that these…
We examine the possibility that the strong CP problem is solved by string-theoretic axions in strong-coupling limit of the E_8 x E_8 heterotic string theory (M-theory). We first discuss some generic features of gauge kinetic functions in…
Three possible strategies have been advocated to solve the strong CP problem. The first is the axion, a dynamical mechanism that relaxes any initial value of the CP violating angle $\bar{\theta}$ to zero. The second is the imposition of new…
We discuss a possible solution to the strong CP problem which is based on spontaneous CP violation and discrete symmetries. At the same time we predict in a simple way the almost right-angled quark unitarity triangle angle ($\alpha \simeq…
We derive sufficient conditions that guarantee a robust solution of the strong CP problem in theories with spontaneous CP violation, and introduce a class of models satisfying these requirements. In the simplest scenarios the dominant…
We argue that sufficiently complex grand unified theories involving extra strong intractions that confine at very short distances, may lead to a heavy axion solution of the CP problem of QCD. This axion may have a mass within accessible…
We present a new mechanism to solve the strong CP problem using $N\geq2$ axions, each dynamically relaxing part of the $\bar\theta$ parameter. At high energies $M\gg\Lambda_{QCD}$ the $SU(3)_{c}$ group becomes the diagonal subgroup of an…
We analyze the strong CP problem and the implications for axion physics in the context of $U_1$ vector leptoquark models, recently put forward as an elegant solution to the hints of lepton flavor universality violation in B-meson decays. It…
These lectures discuss the $\theta$ parameter of QCD. After an introduction to anomalies in four and two dimensions, the parameter is introduced. That such topological parameters can have physical effects is illustrated with two dimensional…
Considerable theoretical efforts have gone into expanding the reach of the QCD axion beyond its canonical mass--decay-constant relation. The $Z_\mathcal{N}$ QCD axion model reduces the QCD axion mass naturally, by invoking a discrete…
Mechanisms that dynamically relax the vacuum energy offer a concrete way to approach the cosmological constant problem, but because relaxation is not confined to the vacuum energy alone it can have consequences for the rest of low-energy…
The QCD axion is one of the most compelling solutions of the strong CP problem. There are major current efforts into searching for an ultralight, invisible axion, which is believed to be the only phenomenologically viable realization of the…
In this chapter we introduce the $\theta$-dependence and the topological properties of QCD, features of the strongly interacting sector which give rise to the strong CP problem in the more general context of the Standard Model of particle…
The absence of a neutron electric dipole moment (EDM) constrains the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) theta angle to be less than one part in ten billion, posing the Strong $CP$ problem. We revisit two classes of proposed solutions. First, we…