Phenomenology of axion-like particles with universal fermion couplings -- revisited

TL;DR

This paper revisits the phenomenology of axion-like particles with universal fermion couplings, analyzing production channels, decay modes, and uncertainties to enhance experimental search strategies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive revision of ALP phenomenology with universal fermion couplings, including updated calculations and analysis of production and decay processes.

Findings

Hierarchical analysis of ALP production channels

Uncertainty quantification of production depending on energy and setup

Improved calculations of hadronic decay modes

Abstract

Axion-like particles (ALPs) emerge in many extensions of the Standard Model as pseudo-Goldstone bosons of a spontaneously broken global symmetry. Understanding their phenomenology in high-energy collisions is crucial for optimizing experimental searches and understanding the exploration potential of future experiments. In this paper, we revise the phenomenology of ALPs with universal couplings to fermions. In particular, we analyze the hierarchy and uncertainty of the various ALP production channels depending on the proton collision energy and the placement of the experiment, and provide improved calculations of the hadronic decay modes.