Rachel Houtz: Dynamical Axions and Gravitational Waves

In this talk I discuss the gravitational wave signals of dynamical axion models. In particular, we focus on models which solve the strong CP problem and include the confinement of a QCD-like gauge group at the TeV scale. I discuss the resulting chiral symmetry breaking phase transition for models with three and four light flavors using the linear sigma model. The amplitude of the gravitational wave spectrum depends on the mass of the dynamical axion. The resulting spectra may be observed at future mid-range gravitational wave experiments such as AION/MAGIS, DECIGO, and BBO. Moreover, the TeV states can be searched for at colliders, providing a unique connection between axion physics, gravitational waves and collider searches.

October 11, 2019