How well can the QCD axion hide?

TL;DR

This paper explores how multiple axion fields in UV theories can alter the properties and detectability of the QCD axion, affecting experimental searches and theoretical bounds.

Contribution

It demonstrates that multi-axion frameworks can relax the bound on the QCD axion-photon coupling and affect its role as dark matter.

Findings

Multi-axion effects modify the QCD axion's mass and couplings.

The bound E/N ≥ 8/3 can be relaxed in multi-axion models.

Most parameter regions where the QCD axion evades detection still allow for detectable axion-like particles.

Abstract

Motivated UV frameworks generically predict the existence of multiple axion fields. Their interplay gives rise to novel collective phenomena - including level crossings and the formation of string bundles - which modify the predicted mass and couplings of the QCD axion as a solution to both the strong CP problem and the observed dark matter abundance. Among these effects, the domain wall number is determined by the full anomaly structure of the theory: in the single axion case, the absence of long-lived domain walls imposes $E/N \geq 8/3$ as a theoretical bound on the QCD axion photon coupling, assuming the global structure of the Standard Model gauge group is minimal. We show that this bound can be relaxed in the multi-axion framework. Combined with the fact that the QCD axion can become a subdominant dark matter component, this might render multi-axion scenarios experimentally challenging. Nevertheless, a careful analysis of the parameter space reveals that in most regions where the QCD axion evades detection, an axion-like particle remains visible to next-generation experiments. When all signals fall below future projections, we identify the most promising regions of parameter space to probe in an illustrative two-axion setup.