Generalized symmetries and emergence in axion effective field theories

TL;DR

This paper explores how higher symmetries in axion effective field theories influence the emergence of symmetries at different energy scales, with implications for ultraviolet physics and anomaly inflow.

Contribution

It clarifies emergence constraints imposed by higher symmetries in axion EFTs and shows their saturation via anomaly inflow onto topological defects.

Findings

Emergence constraints are universally saturated by anomaly inflow.

In perturbative UV completions, constraints are supererogatory due to scale separation.

Higher symmetries guide the understanding of UV physics in axion theories.

Abstract

We study the phenomenological consequences of higher symmetry structures in axion effective field theories. Higher-group and non-invertible symmetries impose parametric constraints on the energy scales at which different symmetries can emerge in the infrared, providing a guide to the ultraviolet physics. We clarify and analyze these emergence constraints in axion EFTs coupled to abelian and non-abelian gauge bosons, with and without charged matter. We show that emergence constraints are universally saturated by anomaly inflow onto topological defects, while in perturbative UV completions they are supererogatory owing to the parametric separation of scales.