Related papers: Strong CP problem and axion dark matter with small…
We show that QCD instantons can generate large effects at small length scales in the ultraviolet in standard composite Higgs models that utilise partial compositeness. This has important implications for possible solutions of the strong CP…
We calculate a new contribution to the axion mass that arises from gluons propagating in a 5th dimension at high energies. By uplifting the 4D instanton solution to five dimensions, the positive frequency modes of the Kaluza-Klein states…
Axions provide a solution to the strong CP problem and are excellent dark matter candidates. The presence of additional sources of CP violation, for example to account for the matter/antimatter asymmetry of the universe, can lead to…
I propose a variant invisible axion model of spontaneous CP violation at the electroweak scale without CP domain wall and `strong CP' problems. Both large size QCD and small size non-QCD instantons break CP and Peccei-Quinn symmetries, and…
The QCD axion offers a natural resolution to the strong CP problem and provides a compelling dark matter candidate. If the QCD axion constitutes all the dark matter, the simplest models pick out a narrow range of masses around $100\,\mu{\rm…
The QCD axion is one of the best motivated dark matter candidates. The misalignment mechanism is well known to produce an abundance of the QCD axion consistent with dark matter for an axion decay constant of order $10^{12}$ GeV. For a…
A QCD axion with a decay constant below $ 10 ^{ 11} ~{\rm GeV} $ is a strongly-motivated extension to the Standard Model, though its relic abundance from the misalignment mechanism or decay of cosmic defects is insufficient to explain the…
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…
We show that models in which the strong $CP$ problem is solved by introducing an axion field with a mass enhanced by non-QCD UV dynamics at a scale $\Lambda_{\rm SI}$ exhibit enhanced sensitivity to external sources of $CP$ violation. In…
Small size QCD instantons may spoil the axion solution to the strong CP problem if QCD is not asymptotically free at high energy scales. We examine this issue in supersymmetric models using a manifestly supersymmetric scheme to compute the…
We present a simple set of power counting rules which allows us to easily estimate calculable instanton effects up to $O(1)$ factors. We apply the resulting Instanton NDA to examine the effects of small instantons on various axion models.…
We present a comprehensive study of axion condensed neutron stars that arise in models of an exceptionally light axion that couples to quantum chromodynamics (QCD). These axions solve the strong-charge-parity (CP) problem, but have a…
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…
Current upper bounds of the neutron electric dipole moment constrain the physically observable quantum chromodynamic (QCD) vacuum angle $|\bar\theta| \lesssim 10^{-11}$. Since QCD explains vast experimental data from the 100 MeV scale to…
We derive two features of axion cosmology that may have cosmological implications, whether or not axions are dark matter: For the full range of allowed axion masses, the evolution of a cosmic axion background allows large CP violation until…
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…
The Strong CP Problem and its resolution through the existence of an axion are briefly reviewed. The combined constraints from accelerator searches, the evolution of red giants and the duration of the SN 1987a neutrino pulse require the…
Any would-be Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is vulnerable to various types of explicit breaking. It has long been recognized that these can disrupt the axion solution to the strong CP problem. There have also been suggestions that, under…
The string axion may provide the most attractive solution to the strong CP problem in QCD. However, the axion energy density easily exceeds the dark matter density in the present universe due to a large decay constant around $10^{16}$ GeV,…
We construct a theory in which the solution to the strong CP problem is an emergent property of the background of the dark matter in the Universe. The role of the axion degree of freedom is played by multi-body collective excitations…