Gauged Axions and their QCD Interactions

Abstract

We present a brief overview of axion models associated to anomalous abelian (gauge) symmetries, discussing their main phenomenological features. Among these, the mechanism of vacuum misalignment introduced at the QCD and at the electroweak phase transitions, with the appearance of periodic potentials, responsible for the generation of a mass for these types of axions.

Comments: 8 pages, 6 figures. Presented at QCD@Work - International Workshop on QCD - Theory and Experiment 20-23 June 2010 Martina Franca - Valle d'Itria - Italy, to appear in the AIP Conference Proceedings Series 2010