# QCD Axion Star Collapse with the Chiral Potential

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the previous conclusion that collapsing axion stars do not form black holes remains valid when using the more accurate chiral potential instead of the instanton potential.

## Contribution

It proves that the bounded energy and non-black-hole outcome of collapsing axion stars hold true with the chiral potential, extending prior results.

## Key findings

- Total energy remains bounded during collapse.
- Axion stars do not form black holes with the chiral potential.
- Previous conclusions are robust to potential choice.

## Abstract

In a previous work, we analyzed collapsing axion stars using the low-energy instanton potential, showing that the total energy is always bounded and that collapsing axion stars do not form black holes. In this paper, we provide a proof that the conclusions are unchanged when using instead the more general chiral potential for QCD axions.