Related papers: Why PQ?
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 conventional view is that a solution of the strong CP problem lies beyond QCD. A strong argument supporting this view is that the chiral expansion shows that observables depend on theta (unless a quark mass is zero); this eliminates the…
The Peccei-Quinn (PQ) solution to the strong $CP$ problem requires an anomalous global $U(1)$ symmetry, the PQ symmetry. The origin of such a convenient global symmetry is quite puzzling from the theoretical point of view in many aspects.…
We briefly review the cases of forced and spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking. In particular the chiral condensate of q anti-q pairs is parametrized with two angles, phi which measures the chiral condensation, and theta which measures the…
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…
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,…
Three symmetry constraints on the CP violations in QCD are discussed in this paper. In order to generate CP violating observables from QCD, these constraints require: (1) spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, (2) explicit chiral symmetry…
A recent paper "What can solve the strong CP problem?" goes counter to conventional wisdom by arguing that the universe was in an initial state that combines different eigenstates of $\theta$ (of the theta vacuum of QCD), and asserts that…
Spontaneous breaking of symmetries leads to universal phenomena. We extend this notion to $(-1)$-form U(1) symmetries. The spontaneous breaking is diagnosed by a dependence of the vacuum energy on a constant background field $\theta$, which…
Motivated by recent claims questioning the existence of strong CP violation, we present a pedagogical review of CP violation in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). Using fundamental properties of the QCD partition function, we analyze the…
I briefly review solutions to the strong CP problem based on axions, parity invariance, CP-invariance, and present a new idea based on CP as part of a spontaneously broken flavour symmetry such as a U(1) or modular invariance.
We exhibit a solution to the strong CP problem in which ultraviolet physics renders the QCD theta angle physically unobservable. Our models involve new strong interactions beyond QCD and particles charged under both the new interactions and…
I review some aspects of the interplay between anomalies and chiral symmetry. The quantum anomaly that breaks the U(1) axial symmetry of massless QCD leaves behind a flavor-singlet discrete chiral invariance. When the mass is turned on this…
We present a new mechanism for solving the strong CP problem using a Z2 discrete symmetry and an anomalous U(1) symmetry. A Z2 symmetry is used so that two gauge groups have the same theta angle. An anomalous U(1) symmetry makes the…
It is shown that the quark mass aligns QCD $\theta$ vacuum in such a way that the strong CP is conserved, resolving the strong CP problem.
Peccei-Quinn (PQ) mechanism based on a chiral global U(1) symmetry is considered to be a simple and elegant solution for strong CP problem. Fact that the mechanism could be experimentally examined through the axion search makes it much more…
We explore a dynamical mechanism to realize the emergence of a global $U(1)_{\rm PQ}$ symmetry and its spontaneous breaking at an intermediate scale for an axion solution to the strong CP problem. Such a dynamics is provided by a new…
Among solutions of the strong CP problem, the "invisible" axion in the narrow axion window is argued to be the remaining possibility among natural solutions on the smallness of $\bar{\theta}$. Related to the gravity spoil of global…
The quantum anomaly that breaks the U(1) axial symmetry of massless multi-flavored QCD leaves behind a discrete flavor-singlet chiral invariance. With massive quarks, this residual symmetry has a close connection with the strong…
We reconsider the massless up quark solution of the strong CP problem. We show that an anomaly free horizontal symmetry can naturally lead to a massless up quark and to a corresponding accidental anomalous symmetry. Reviewing the…