Related papers: The Problem of Axion Quality: A Low Energy Effecti…
Axion models generically suffer from a severe quality problem when coupled to gravity. In this article we provide a very simple model with a high quality axion. The axion is a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson of the baryon number symmetry,…
We propose an ${\rm SU}(6)$ unified theory that solves the strong ${\it CP}$ problem with a high-quality axion. This is achieved by an automatic global Peccei-Quinn ${\rm U}(1)_{\rm PQ}$ symmetry and the gauged discrete $\mathbb{Z}_{4{\cal…
The axion solution to the strong CP problem is delicately sensitive to Peccei-Quinn breaking contributions that are misaligned with respect to QCD instantons. Heavy QCD axion models are appealing because they avoid this so-called "quality…
The axion solution to the strong CP problem calls for an explanation as to why the Lagrangian should be invariant under the global Peccei-Quinn symmetry, U(1)_PQ, to such a high degree of accuracy. In this paper, we point out that the…
The QCD axion fails to solve the strong CP problem unless all explicit PQ violating, Planck-suppressed, dimension n<10 operators are forbidden or have exponentially small coefficients. We show that all theories with a QCD axion contain an…
The idea that the gravity-induced breaking of global symmetries is encoded in Planck-suppressed operators is not scale-invariant: heavy particles which have nothing to do with the UV completion of gravity can mediate the breaking and…
An accidental U(1) Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry automatically arises in a class of SO(10) unified theories upon gauging the SU(3)$_{f}$ flavour group. The PQ symmetry is protected by the $\mathbb{Z}_4 \times \mathbb{Z}_3$ center of…
We present a composite QCD axion model where the Peccei--Quinn (PQ) symmetry emerges as a high-quality, accidental symmetry. The axion potential is only modified by eight-fermion, dimension 12 operators, which if present at the Planck…
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 argue that the axion arising in the solution of the strong CP problem can be identified with the Majoron, the (pseudo-)Goldstone boson of spontaneously broken lepton number symmetry. At low energies, the associated $U(1)_L$ becomes, via…
Inspired by the possibility of high-scale supersymmetry breaking in the string landscape where the cosmological constant problem and the gauge hierarchy problem can be solved while the strong CP problem is still a challenge for naturalness,…
Murayama proposed a GeV-scale axion theory where the up-quark mass term is generated dynamically by the QCD chiral condensate, spontaneously breaking a Peccei-Quinn symmetry. It predicts a too large mass splitting between neutral and…
Similarities between the gauge meditation of supersymmetry breaking and the QCD axion model suggest that they originate from the same dynamics. We present a class of models where supersymmetry and the Peccei-Quinn symmetry are…
It is shown that the post-inflationary quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion need not lead to a unique one-parameter prediction for the dark matter abundance whenever small explicit Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking becomes dynamically relevant…
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…
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 study a supersymmetric effective field theory in which the mass of an axion-like particle (ALP) is generated predominantly by soft supersymmetry-breaking effects. The Peccei--Quinn symmetry is exact in the supersymmetric limit and is…
It is firmly believed that the axion for solving the strong CP problem must come from the spontaneous breaking of an anomalous Peccei-Quinn global symmetry. Here we show a new possibility that the axion can be induced by a pseudo Goldstone…
We explore a new framework that furnishes a mechanism to simultaneously address the electroweak naturalness problem and the axion high quality problem. The framework is based on a doubly composite dynamics where the second confinement takes…
QCD axion models have been proposed as a solution to the strong CP problem. QCD instanton effects explicitly violate the global U(1) Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry, and the axion potential is minimized at the CP conserving points. However, it…