Monodromic transparency of axion domain walls

Abstract We revisit the study of light interacting with QCD axion domain walls from the perspective of the non-linear axion coupling to photons, g a F F ~ $$ g(a)F\overset{\sim }{F} $$ , which encodes the effects related to the breaking of the axion shift symmetry including the well-known mixing wit...

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Main Author: Simone Blasi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-05-01
Series:Journal of High Energy Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2025)013
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author Simone Blasi
author_facet Simone Blasi
author_sort Simone Blasi
collection DOAJ
description Abstract We revisit the study of light interacting with QCD axion domain walls from the perspective of the non-linear axion coupling to photons, g a F F ~ $$ g(a)F\overset{\sim }{F} $$ , which encodes the effects related to the breaking of the axion shift symmetry including the well-known mixing with meson states. As the axion makes an O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (1) excursion of its fundamental period around strings and domain walls, the standard linear coupling to photons is generally insufficient to accurately describe the interaction of light with the defects, and one needs to consider the full structure of g(a). We take this into account in evaluating the friction experienced by axion domain walls moving in a thermal bath of photons, as well as in deriving the birefringent properties of the walls. This clarifies some results in the literature dealing with a special cancellation that takes place for the QCD axion with the electromagnetic and color anomaly as predicted by minimal Grand Unified Theories.
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spelling doaj-art-4643a1205fbd497abe12f9f90122a8d72025-08-20T03:10:38ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792025-05-012025512010.1007/JHEP05(2025)013Monodromic transparency of axion domain wallsSimone Blasi0Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESYAbstract We revisit the study of light interacting with QCD axion domain walls from the perspective of the non-linear axion coupling to photons, g a F F ~ $$ g(a)F\overset{\sim }{F} $$ , which encodes the effects related to the breaking of the axion shift symmetry including the well-known mixing with meson states. As the axion makes an O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (1) excursion of its fundamental period around strings and domain walls, the standard linear coupling to photons is generally insufficient to accurately describe the interaction of light with the defects, and one needs to consider the full structure of g(a). We take this into account in evaluating the friction experienced by axion domain walls moving in a thermal bath of photons, as well as in deriving the birefringent properties of the walls. This clarifies some results in the literature dealing with a special cancellation that takes place for the QCD axion with the electromagnetic and color anomaly as predicted by minimal Grand Unified Theories.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2025)013Axions and ALPsEarly Universe Particle Physics
spellingShingle Simone Blasi
Monodromic transparency of axion domain walls
Journal of High Energy Physics
Axions and ALPs
Early Universe Particle Physics
title Monodromic transparency of axion domain walls
title_full Monodromic transparency of axion domain walls
title_fullStr Monodromic transparency of axion domain walls
title_full_unstemmed Monodromic transparency of axion domain walls
title_short Monodromic transparency of axion domain walls
title_sort monodromic transparency of axion domain walls
topic Axions and ALPs
Early Universe Particle Physics
url https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2025)013
work_keys_str_mv AT simoneblasi monodromictransparencyofaxiondomainwalls