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Main Authors: Hor, Shihwen, Nakai, Yuichiro, Suzuki, Motoo, Xu, Junxuan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.02033
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author Hor, Shihwen
Nakai, Yuichiro
Suzuki, Motoo
Xu, Junxuan
author_facet Hor, Shihwen
Nakai, Yuichiro
Suzuki, Motoo
Xu, Junxuan
contents We present a new framework of grand unification that is equipped with an axion solution to the strong CP problem without a domain wall problem when the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is spontaneously broken after inflation. Our grand unified theory (GUT) is based on a symmetry breaking pattern, $SU(10) \times SU(5)_1 \rightarrow SU(5)_V \supset SU(3)_C \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y$, where $SU(5)_1$ and a special embedding of $SU(5)_2\subset SU(10)$ are broken to a diagonal subgroup $SU(5)_V$. The model contains a vector-like pair of PQ-charged fermions that transform as (anti-)fundamental representations under $SU(10)$, so that the domain wall number is one. However, after the GUT symmetry breaking, the number of vector-like pairs of PQ-charged colored fermions is larger than one, which seems to encounter the domain wall problem. This apparent inconsistency is resolved by small instanton effects on the axion potential which operate as a PQ-violating bias term and allow the decay of domain walls. We propose a domain-wall-free UV completion for an IR model where the domain wall number appears larger than one. The model gives a prediction for a dark matter axion window, which is different from that of the ordinary post-inflationary QCD axion with domain wall number one.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_02033
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Small Instantons and the Post-Inflationary QCD Axion in a Special Product GUT
Hor, Shihwen
Nakai, Yuichiro
Suzuki, Motoo
Xu, Junxuan
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Theory
We present a new framework of grand unification that is equipped with an axion solution to the strong CP problem without a domain wall problem when the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is spontaneously broken after inflation. Our grand unified theory (GUT) is based on a symmetry breaking pattern, $SU(10) \times SU(5)_1 \rightarrow SU(5)_V \supset SU(3)_C \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y$, where $SU(5)_1$ and a special embedding of $SU(5)_2\subset SU(10)$ are broken to a diagonal subgroup $SU(5)_V$. The model contains a vector-like pair of PQ-charged fermions that transform as (anti-)fundamental representations under $SU(10)$, so that the domain wall number is one. However, after the GUT symmetry breaking, the number of vector-like pairs of PQ-charged colored fermions is larger than one, which seems to encounter the domain wall problem. This apparent inconsistency is resolved by small instanton effects on the axion potential which operate as a PQ-violating bias term and allow the decay of domain walls. We propose a domain-wall-free UV completion for an IR model where the domain wall number appears larger than one. The model gives a prediction for a dark matter axion window, which is different from that of the ordinary post-inflationary QCD axion with domain wall number one.
title Small Instantons and the Post-Inflationary QCD Axion in a Special Product GUT
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.02033