No Arabic abstract
The relaxation mechanism, which solves the electroweak hierarchy problem without relying on TeV scale new physics, crucially depends on how a Higgs-dependent back-reaction potential is generated. In this paper, we suggest a new scenario in which the scalar potential induced by the QCD anomaly is responsible both for the relaxation mechanism and the Peccei-Quinn mechanism to solve the strong CP problem. The key idea is to introduce the relaxion and the QCD axion whose cosmic evolutions become quite different depending on an inflaton-dependent scalar potential. Our scheme raises the cutoff scale of the Higgs mass up to 10^7 GeV, and allows reheating temperature higher than the electroweak scale as would be required for viable cosmology. In addition, the QCD axion can account for the observed dark matter of the universe as produced by the conventional misalignment mechanism. We also consider the possibility that the couplings of the Standard Model depend on the inflaton and become stronger during inflation. In this case, the relaxation can be implemented with a sub-Planckian field excursion of the relaxion for a cutoff scale below 10 TeV.
In the Standard Model, the renormalization of the QCD vacuum angle $theta$ is extremely tiny, and small $theta$ is technically natural. In the general Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT), however, $Deltatheta$ is quadratically divergent, reflecting the fact that new sources of hadronic CP-violation typically produce $mathcal O(1)$ threshold corrections to $theta$. The observation of such CP-violating interactions would therefore be in tension with solutions to the strong CP problem in which $theta=0$ is an ultraviolet boundary condition, pointing to the Peccei-Quinn mechanism as the explanation for why $theta$ is small in the infrared. We study the quadratic divergences in $theta$ arising from dimension-6 SMEFT operators and discuss the discovery prospects for these operators at electric dipole moment experiments, the LHC, and future proton-proton colliders.
Axions were first introduced in connection with chiral symmetry but are now being looked for mainly as dark matter. In this paper we introduce a nonabelian analogue of axions which can also be potential candidates for dark matter. Their nonabelian symmetries, which are generalizations of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry, are interesting in their own right. Detailed analysis, using fermion measure and zeta function approaches shows that these symmetries are not anomalous.
We aim to explain the nature of neutrinos using Peccei-Quinn symmetry. We discuss two simple scenarios, one based on a type-II Dirac seesaw and the other in a one-loop neutrino mass generation, which solve the strong CP problem and naturally lead to Dirac neutrinos. In the first setup latest neutrino mass limit gives rise to axion which is in the reach of conventional searches. Moreover, we have both axion as well as WIMP dark mater for our second set up.
Baryon number is an accidental symmetry in the standard model, while Peccei-Quinn symmetry is hypothetical symmetry which is introduced to solve the strong CP problem. We study the possible connections between Peccei-Quinn symmetry and baryon number symmetry. In this framework, an axion is identified as the Nambu-Goldstone boson of baryon number violation. As a result, characteristic baryon number violating processes are predicted. We developed the general method to determine the baryon number and lepton number of new scalar in the axion model.
We propose a model where Dirac neutrino mass is obtained from small vacuum expectation value (VEV) of neutrino-specific Higgs doublet without fine-tuning problem. The small VEV results from a seesaw-like formula with the high energy scale identified as the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry breaking scale. Axion can be introduced {it `a la} KSVZ or DFSZ. The model suggests neutrino mass, solution to the strong CP problem, and dark matter may be mutually interconnected.