The Holographic QCD Axion in Five Dimensions

TL;DR

This paper constructs a holographic 5D model of the QCD axion, clarifying its relation to QCD topological operators and addressing the axion quality problem through bulk dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a bulk scalar field dual to QCD's topological operator, elucidates the axion's holographic origin, and discusses the axion quality problem within this framework.

Findings

Identifies bulk modes corresponding to the $ heta'$ and axion states.

Shows the physical axion is mainly in the bulk gauge field at high quality.

Highlights the need for axion compositeness to solve the quality problem.

Abstract

We present a holographic construction of the QCD axion based on a warped 5D model. A key ingredient of our setup is the introduction of a bulk scalar field $\theta$, which is holographically dual to the topological operator of QCD. This makes the relation among the axion, the $\eta'$, and the anomalies transparent. We identify the bulk modes corresponding to the $\eta'$ and axion states, and show that an adjustment analogous to that of the usual 4D axion takes place. We identify the origin of the axion quality problem in this framework and show that a large degree of axion compositeness is needed to solve it. We also find that, in the limit of a high quality axion, the physical axion state is predominantly contained in the bulk gauge field.