Related papers: Strong-$CP$ with and without gravity
The complex field $\Phi$ containing the QCD axion has a natural portal coupling to the Higgs doublet of the form $\lambda_{h \phi}|\Phi|^2 |H|^2$. Here we consider the possibility that $\lambda_{h \phi}$ has a natural magnitude for a…
A spontaneously-broken CP provides an alternative to the KM mechanism for CP violation with the advantage that the strong CP problem is solved. We consider, for such a model with a new gauged U(1), the incorporation of low-energy…
Some solutions to the strong CP problem assume that CP symmetry is a gauge symmetry, which is then spontaneously broken. For this scenario to be possible, the CP symmetry should not have any nonperturbative (global) anomalies. In this…
There exists a widely spread notion that gravitational effects can strongly violate global symmetries. It may lead to many important consequences. We will argue, in particular, that nonperturbative gravitational effects in the axion theory…
We review the status of axino dark matter. Two hierarchy problems, the strong CP problem and the gauge hierarchy problem, have led to introducing into particle physics a spontaneously broken global Peccei-Quinn symmetry and a softly broken…
Gravity can give rise to (pseudo)scalar fields, for instance due to torsion. In particular, axions of gravitational origin have been proposed as a minimal and compelling solution to the strong CP problem. In this work, we critically examine…
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 outline some general features of possible extensions of the Standard Model that include anomalous U(1) gauge symmetries, a certain number of axions and their mixings with the CP-odd Higgs sector. As previously shown, after the mixing one…
Composite axion scenarios offer a robust field theoretic justification for the existence of a Peccei-Quinn symmetry of high quality. We present a new class of realizations that are naturally embedded in Grand-Unified Theories, retain…
We study effective theories of an axion in spontaneously broken supersymmetric theories. We consider a system where the axion supermultiplet is directly coupled to a supersymmetry breaking sector whereas the standard model sector is…
Pecci-Quinn (PQ) symmetry breaking by perturbative dynamics would suffer from a hierarchy problem, just like the electroweak symmetry breaking in the standard model. The dynamics of the axion, associated with the PQ symmetry breaking, would…
Axions are hypothetical pseudoscalar particles introduced initially as a solution to the Strong CP problem in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), and they also arise naturally in a broad class of low-energy compactifications of string theory.…
Motivated by the flavored Peccei-Quinn symmetry for unifying the flavor physics and string theory, we construct an explicit model by introducing a $U(1)$ symmetry such that the $U(1)_X$-$[gravity]^2$ anomaly-free condition together with the…
We present detailed arguments and calculations in support of our recent proposal to identify the axion arising in the solution of the strong CP problem with the Majoron, the (pseudo-)Goldstone boson of spontaneously broken lepton number…
I review the ideas leading to the QCD axion and also comment on the Jarlskog determinant describing the observed weak CP violation, and the axion-related Kim-Nilles-Peloso inflation. All of these use pseudoscalars, and the underlying…
Axions and other pseudoscalar fields comprise an interesting class of ultralight dark matter candidates, that may independently play a role in solving the strong $CP$ problem. In the presence of $CP$-violating sources, these pseudoscalar…
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…
Imposing CP or P forces the QCD topological angle to be either $\bar\theta=0$ or $\bar\theta=\pi$. However, only the former is phenomenologically viable. This implies that the assumption of CP or P alone cannot provide a framework for…
We examine the theoretical possibility for the heavy QCD axion to induce slow-roll inflation while solving the strong CP problem through the Peccei-Quinn mechanism. If the cancellation between contributions from a small-size instanton and…
In the late 1970's, the axion was proposed as a solution to the Strong CP Problem, i.e. the puzzle why the strong interactions conserve parity P and the product CP of charge conjugation and parity in spite of the fact that the Standard…