Related papers: Does chiral perturbation theory rule out QCD-based…
Anchoring our understanding of low-energy nuclear and hadronic physics to the fundamental theory of strong interactions, QCD, remains and outstanding challenge for physicists. Lattice QCD and chiral perturbation theory are the most powerful…
The role of a chiral U(1) phase in the quark mass in QCD is analysed from first principles. In operator formulation, there is a parity symmetry and the phase can be removed by a change in the representation of the Dirac gamma matrices.…
We have investigated a closed set of equations for the quark propagator, which has been obtained earlier within a new, nonperturbative approach to two-dimencional covariant gauge QCD. It is shown that this theory implies quark confinement…
We show that a recently proposed solution to the Hierarchy Problem simultaneously solves the Strong CP Problem, without requiring an axion or any further new physics. Consistency of black hole physics implies a non-trivial relation between…
Lattice gauge theory and chiral perturbation theory are among the primary tools for understanding non-perturbative aspects of QCD. I review several subtle and sometimes controversial issues that arise when combining these techniques. Among…
Conventionally, the strong-$CP$ problem is assumed to be a naturalness puzzle, with the axion solution sometimes viewed as an ad hoc fix. Gravity is either ignored or taken as a threat for the global Peccei-Quinn symmetry. We explain that…
The vacuum of quantum chromodynamics has an incredibly rich structure at the nonperturbative level, which is intimately connected with the topology of gauge fields, and put to a test by the strong CP problem. We investigate the…
Models which solve the strong CP problem by employing discrete spacetime symmetries generically suffer fine-tuning and quality problems. We demonstrate that these issues are greatly ameliorated when the only source of spontaneous CP…
One often hears that the strong $CP$ problem is the one problem which cannot be solved by anthropic reasoning. We argue that this is not so. Due to nonperturbative dynamics, states with a different $CP$ violating paramenter $\theta$ acquire…
We present a solution to the strong CP problem based on spontaneous CP violation and discrete family symmetries. The model predicts in a natural way the almost right-angled quark unitarity triangle angle ($\alpha \simeq 90^\circ$) by making…
The reasons why a considerable effort is made to resolve the low energy structure of QCD are discussed. The effective field theory used for this purpose is illustrated with the recent progress made in the predictions for pipi scattering and…
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…
We argue that consistency of the combined heavy quark and chiral effective lagrangian requires the QCD scale which multiplies $1/M$ in the heavy quark expansion to be the chiral symmetry breaking scale, $\Lambda_{CSB}$, rather than the QCD…
The nature of the chiral phase transition of QCD continues to represent a fundamental open problem in the study of strongly interacting matter. In recent years, significant progress has been achieved by exploiting systematic variations 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…
Solutions to strong CP based on chiral structure have been subject to the most careful scrutiny and critique. Basic theoretical issues include hierarchy and fine-tuning problems, quality and genericity of symmetries, and compatibility with…
We promote the usual QCD $\theta$-parameter to a field and interpret it as the phase of the quark condensate, which becomes nontrivial when topological defects, vortices in our formulation, are induced in the quark condensate by the QCD…
A vanishing Yukawa coupling of the up quark could in principle solve the strong CP problem. To render this solution consistent with current algebra results, the up quark must receive an alternative mass contribution that conserves CP…
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…
The quenched approximation for QCD is, at present and in the foreseeable future, unavoidable in lattice calculations with realistic choices of the lattice spacing, volume and quark masses. In this talk, I review an analytic study of the…