Sphalerons and axion dynamics in high-temperature QCD

Journal Article · Fri Mar 15 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.43.2027· OSTI ID:5834995

McLerran, L ^[1]; Mottola, E ^[2]; Shaposhnikov, M E ^[3]

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1. Theoretical Physics Institute, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 (USA)
2. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Theoretical Division, T-8, Mail Stop B285, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (USA)
3. Institute for Nuclear Research, Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R., Moscow 117312 (USSR)

We consider the effects of sphaleronlike transitions in the high-temperature QCD plasma. Because of the chiral anomaly, these imply rapid chirality change, and strongly influence the dynamics of any axionic fields that may couple to the topological winding number of QCD. We derive a coupled set of equations describing the evolution of the axion field and chiral fermion density at high temperatures. The unsuppressed sphaleronlike transitions result in the damping of coherent axionic oscillations. The implications of this phenomenon for axion fields in early Universe cosmology is discussed.

• OSTI ID: 5834995
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA), Vol. 43:6; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
AXIONS
BARYON NUMBER
CHIRAL SYMMETRY
COSMOLOGY
FERMIONS
GAUGE INVARIANCE
P INVARIANCE
PLASMA
SU-2 GROUPS
SYMMETRY BREAKING
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TOPOLOGY
U-1 GROUPS
UNIVERSE
VACUUM STATES
WEINBERG-SALAM GAUGE MODEL
YANG-MILLS THEORY
BOSONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FIELD THEORIES
GOLDSTONE BOSONS
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
LIE GROUPS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICS
PARTICLE MODELS
POSTULATED PARTICLES
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
SU GROUPS
SYMMETRY
SYMMETRY GROUPS
U GROUPS
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES
645400* - High Energy Physics- Field Theory
645204 - High Energy Physics- Particle Interactions & Properties-Theoretical- Strong Interactions & Properties
645300 - High Energy Physics- Particle Invariance Principles & Symmetries