NEXT ASYMMETRY WEBINAR: Wednesday, July 22 at 4:00 PM (CEST)

Speaker: Hannah Banks (CCPP New York University)

Title: Big Axion.

Abstract: The QCD axion provides an elegant solution to the strong CP problem yet generically suffers from a severe quality problem when coupled to gravity. In this talk I will introduce a new class of axion models - `big axions’ - which address the quality problem through the collective spontaneous breaking of a network of U(1) symmetries delocalised across theory space.  These models naturally realise high-quality global symmetries and exhibit a rich structure that interpolates between 4D Peccei-Quinn axions and axions descending from extra-dimensional gauge fields. I will then identify a minimal phenomenologically viable subclass, little big axions’ and demonstrate how they offer a robust solution to the strong CP problem while remaining compatible with both pre- and post-inflationary cosmologies.

Slides: files/Big_Axions_Asymmetry.pdf