A mass for the dual axion
Abstract In this article we study a modification of axion physics in which the dual axion acquires a mass. This mass explicitly breaks the shift symmetry of the dual axion. The potential breaking of this shift symmetry poses a dual axion quality problem. When the dual axion acquires a mass, the axio...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SpringerOpen
2024-10-01
|
| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2024)253 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Abstract In this article we study a modification of axion physics in which the dual axion acquires a mass. This mass explicitly breaks the shift symmetry of the dual axion. The potential breaking of this shift symmetry poses a dual axion quality problem. When the dual axion acquires a mass, the axion gets eaten and becomes the longitudinal degree of freedom of a massive vector field. In this phase, axion strings are screened and far-separated instanton configurations are exponentially suppressed. This confinement of instantons corresponds to the worldline action of a particle-like soliton traveling between the instantons analogous to Abrikosov/Nielsen-Oleson vortex solitons that stretch between confined magnetic monopoles in a superconductor. We calculate the cost of this additional worldline suppression and provide several models in which both the confined instantons and confining worldline are dynamical. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1029-8479 |