Axion mass prediction from minimal grand unification

Abstract

We propose a minimal realization of the Peccei Quinn mechanism in a realistic SU(5) model, where the axion mass is directly connected to the grand-unification scale. By taking into account constraints from proton decay, collider searches and gauge coupling unification, we predict the axion mass: $m_a \in [4.8, 6.6]$ neV. The upper bound can be relaxed up to $m_a < 330$ neV, at the cost of tuning the flavour structure of the proton decay operators. The predicted mass window will be complementarily probed by the axion dark matter experiments ABRACADABRA and CASPER-Electric, which could provide an indirect evidence for the scale of grand unification before the observation of proton decay.