Related papers: Reflections on the Strong CP Problem
The old cosmological constant problem is to understand why the vacuum energy is so small; the new problem is to understand why it is comparable to the present mass density. Several approaches to these problems are reviewed. Quintessence…
Recently it has been argued that a correct reading of the quantum fluctuations of the vacuum could lead to a solution to the cosmological constant problem. In this work we critically examine such a proposal, finding it questionable due to…
Spontaneous breaking of parity or time reversal invariance offers a solution to the strong CP problem, the stability of which under quantum gravitational effects provides an upper limit on the scale of symmetry breaking. Even more…
The highly non-trivial structure of the $\theta$--vacuum encodes many of the fundamental properties of gauge theories. In particular, the response of the vacuum to the $\theta$--term perturbation is sensitive to the existence of…
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…
We have critically compared different approaches to the cosmological constant problem, which is at the edge of elementary particle physics and cosmology. This problem is deeply connected with the difficulties formulating a theory of quantum…
I discuss vacuum alignment and CP violation in technicolor theories of electroweak and flavor symmetry breaking. I review the surprising appearance of rational phase solutions in the technifermion sector and propose a new solution of the…
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…
I discuss several aspects of CP non-invariance in the strongly interacting theory of quarks and gluons. I use a simple effective Lagrangian technique to map out the region of quark masses where CP symmetry is spontaneously broken. I then…
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…
Nonlinearly realized Abelian global symmetries can be reformulated as local shift symmetries gauged by three-form gauge fields. The anomalous symmetries of the Standard Model (such as Peccei-Quinn or $B+L$) can be dualized to local…
The mystery of the cosmological constant is probably the most pressing obstacle to significantly improving the models of elementary particle physics derived from string theory. The problem arises because in the standard framework of low…
The old cosmological-constant (CC) problem indicates an inconsistency of the usual formulation of semiclassical gravity. The usual formulation of semiclassical gravity also seems to be inconsistent with the conventional interpretation of…
The existence of topological solutions and axial anomaly open a possibility of P and CP violation in QCD. For a reason that has not yet been established conclusively, this possibility is not realized in strong interactions - the…
The cosmological constant problem is one of the greatest challenges in contemporary physics, since it is deeply rooted in the problematic interplay between quantum fields and gravity. The aim of this work is to review the key conceptual…
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…
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 cosmological constant (CC) term in Einstein's equations, Lambda, was first associated to the idea of vacuum energy density. Notwithstanding, it is well-known that there is a huge, in fact appalling, discrepancy between the theoretical…
The origin of CP violation is a major mystery, especially in relation to the strong CP problem. CP being a spontaneously broken symmetry could provide an elegant solution. However, such models have difficulty making themselves compatible…
The topological susceptibility of the QCD vacuum provides an understanding of $\theta$-vacua as vacua of a Chern-Simons gauge theory. In this way, it gives an immediate proof of the physicality of the boundary $\theta$-term. This makes the…