Large field excursions and approximate discrete symmetries from a clockwork axion

We present a renormalizable theory of scalars in which the low-energy effective theory contains a pseudo-Goldstone boson with a compact field space of 2[pi]F and an approximate discrete shift symmetry Z sub(Q) with Q >> 1, yet the number of fields in the theory goes as log Q. Such a model can...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. D 2016-04, Vol.93 (8), Article 085007
Main Authors: Kaplan, David E., Rattazzi, Riccardo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Approximation
Bosons
Continuums
Cosmology
Gauge invariance
Gravitation
Scalars
Symmetry
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We present a renormalizable theory of scalars in which the low-energy effective theory contains a pseudo-Goldstone boson with a compact field space of 2[pi]F and an approximate discrete shift symmetry Z sub(Q) with Q >> 1, yet the number of fields in the theory goes as log Q. Such a model can serve as a UV completion to models of relaxions and is a new source of exponential scale separation in field theory. While the model is local in "theory space," it appears not to have a continuum generalization (i.e., it cannot be a deconstructed extra dimension). Our framework shows that super-Planckian field excursions can be mimicked while sticking to renormalizable four-dimensional quantum field theory. We show that a supersymmetric extension is straightforwardly obtained, and we illustrate possible UV completions based on a compact extra dimension, where all global symmetries arise accidentally as a consequence of gauge invariance and five-dimensional locality.
ISSN:2470-0010
2470-0029
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.93.085007