A viable QCD axion in the MeV mass range

TL;DR

This paper explores the possibility of a QCD axion with a mass around 10 MeV, presenting a viable model that aligns with current experimental constraints and predicts new detectable signatures at GeV scales.

Contribution

It introduces a variant QCD axion model in the MeV range that remains consistent with existing constraints and predicts new experimental signatures.

Findings

A viable QCD axion model at ~10 MeV mass.

Predicted new states at GeV scale coupled hadronically.

Potential signatures in rare meson decays and fixed target experiments.

Abstract

The QCD axion is one of the most compelling solutions of the strong CP problem. There are major current efforts into searching for an ultralight, invisible axion, which is believed to be the only phenomenologically viable realization of the QCD axion. Visible axions with decay constants at or below the electroweak scale are believed to have been long excluded by laboratory searches. Considering the significance of the axion solution of the strong CP problem, we revisit experimental constraints on QCD axions in the O(10 MeV) mass window. In particular, we find a variant axion model that remains compatible with existing constraints. This model predicts new states at the GeV scale coupled hadronically, and a variety of low-energy axion signatures, such as rare meson decays, nuclear de-excitations via axion emission, production in $e^+e^-$ annihilation and fixed target experiments. This reopens the possibility of solving the strong CP problem at the GeV scale.