Abstract
Continuous global symmetries are expected to be broken by gravity, which can lead to important phenomenological consequences. A prime example is the threat that this poses to the viability of the Peccei-Quinn solution to the strong CP problem. In this paper, we explore the impact of wormholes as a source of global symmetry breaking by gravity. We review the current status of wormholes and global symmetries and note that, surprisingly, the axion has a quality problem within non-perturbative Einstein gravity. Although these wormholes lead to a large breaking of global symmetries, we show that their effect is nonetheless relevant for the model building of gauge protected axions. We also find wormhole solutions within two scenarios: (i) an extended global symmetry group within Einstein gravity, and (ii) U(1) wormholes within the low-energy limit of an open String Theory. The former allows us to show that the concept of a global symmetry in General Relativity is somewhat ill-defined. The latter illustrates that for motivated values of the string coupling constant, axions appear to have a quality problem within the open String Theory we consider.
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30 November 2023
An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2023)223
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Alvey, J., Escudero, M. The axion quality problem: global symmetry breaking and wormholes. J. High Energ. Phys. 2021, 32 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2021)032
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2021)032