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arXiv · 2606.26004

Non-invertible symmetries in the axiverse, and the imaginary wormholes

Daniele Licciardello·Luca Martucci
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Abstract

We study the symmetry structure of four-dimensional axiverse effective field theories with multiple axions coupled to abelian gauge sectors, including their extensions to broad classes of N=1 models. We identify the invertible and non-invertible generalized symmetries, and discuss the associated symmetry-breaking mechanisms together with the resulting hierarchies of energy scales. In particular, we discuss the quantum-gravitational breaking of non-invertible axion shift symmetries predicted by the existence of wormholes and the recently proposed Imaginary Distance Bound. In N=1 axiverses, these wormhole-based arguments imply that towers of BPS EFT instantons play a distinguished role and generate infinitely many superpotential terms.

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Daniele Licciardello, Luca Martucci. 2026-06-24. Non-invertible symmetries in the axiverse, and the imaginary wormholes. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.26004

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