arXiv subjects

Anja Wachowitz

Publications and source records attributed to Anja Wachowitz.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Outcomes of Grand Unified Symmetry Breaking

We numerically study the outcome of symmetry breaking motivated by Grand Unified models. Our results show the formation of biased domain walls for a range of parameters together with magnetic monopoles. The interactions of walls and monopoles leads to novel processes such as the absorption of monopoles on walls, production of monopoles when domain walls annihilate, collapse of walls with magnetic charge that can, with gravity taken into account, produce magnetically charged black holes, and production of a stochastic gravitational wave background from biased domain walls. Our findings open new avenues for probing the grand unification epoch by cosmological observables.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Domain walls and magnetic monopoles in Grand Unified Models

Motivated by Grand Unification, we study the formation of magnetic monopoles in an SU(3) non-Abelian gauge theory. We find that the number density of magnetic monopoles depends critically on a parameter, $\epsilon$, that controls the abundance and subsequent decay of biased domain walls. For sufficiently small but non-vanishing values of $\epsilon$, very few monopoles and walls survive in our simulations, potentially solving the cosmological monopole over-abundance problem. In addition, the scenario predicts a stochastic gravitational background from biased domain walls and the possibility of magnetically charged black holes.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

The Strong-$CP$ Problem and its Gauge Axion solution as Evidence for Fundamental Strings

The topological susceptibility of the QCD vacuum provides an understanding of $\theta$-vacua as vacua of a Chern-Simons gauge theory. In this way, it gives an immediate proof of the physicality of the boundary $\theta$-term. This makes the essence of the strong-$CP$ puzzle very transparent and offers a solution in form of the gauge axion, which has exact quality. This axion represents an intrinsic part of the QCD gauge redundancy without any reference to an anomalous global symmetry. It is a two-form transforming under the QCD gauge symmetry. Due to its pure gauge nature, the gauge axion represents a powerful tool to monitor physics of $\theta$-vacua in various regimes. Unlike the ordinary Peccei-Quinn axion, which is UV-completed into a Goldstone phase of a complex scalar and thereby suffers from the quality problem, the gauge axion is UV-completed directly into a fundamental theory of gravity. We study the domain wall and string structure of the gauge axion and show that the strings sourcing it must be a part of this fundamental theory. We thus observe that the absence of the axion quality problem motivates the presence of fundamental strings. This provides a new argument for a connection between the axion and gravity.

hep-th↗