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Axion Theory and Lattice QCD: Advances and Challenges

→ Europe/Rome
Auditorium Salvini (Auditorium Salvini, Building 36, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (Rome), Italy)

Auditorium Salvini

Auditorium Salvini, Building 36, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (Rome), Italy

Via E.Fermi 54 I-00044 Frascati (RM)
Federico Mescia (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
Description

This one‑afternoon workshop brings together researchers working at the interface of axion physics and Lattice QCD. Owing to the recent developments, predictions for the axion mass have been significantly improved and the role of cosmological aspects clarified. Particular attention will be devoted to topology, θ‑dependence, topological susceptibility, and onto the possibility of recent lattice advances to further sharpening predictions in these areas. 

Moreover, the workshop will  address the recent challenge posed by a proposed GeV‑scale axion scenario in which the up‑quark mass arises dynamically from the QCD condensate, implying that the axion could be hidden among known pseudoscalar resonances. Resolving this question conclusively will require dedicated lattice studies of the corresponding deformed QCD theory.

The workshop aims to highlight recent progress, clarify open problems, and identify opportunities for new breakthroughs at the intersection of axion theory and Lattice QCD.

This activity is part of the Theoretical Phenomenology Visiting Institute @ LNF, running from 23 to 27 March 2026 and from 7 to 10 April 2026, and supported by CSN4 to promote the participation of early-career scientists. 

Keynote speakers:

Claudio Bonanno (Bern) "Non-perturbative QCD inputs for axion phenomenology: status and perspectives" (at 14:00)

Luca Di Luzio (INFN-Padova)  "QCD axion at the QCD scale?"

Alessio Notari (Sapienza) "Thermal Production of QCD Axions from the Early Universe"  

Discussion leaders: Giovanni Villadoro (ICTP), Giacomo Landini (INFN-LNF) and Enrico Nardi (LNF)

 

 

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Participants
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Axion Theory and Lattice QCD
Zoom Meeting ID
86589958524
Host
Maddalena Alessia Legramante
Zoom URL
    • 1
      Non-perturbative QCD inputs for axion phenomenology: status and perspectives

      I will review the current state of affairs concerning non-perturbative QCD inputs for axion phenomenology. I will provide a systematic survey of existing lattice QCD results, and I will outline how they compare with up-to-date predictions coming from chiral effective theories and semiclassics. I will conclude delineating the future challenges that await this field in the near future, and what are the current perspectives to meet them.

      Speaker: Dr Claudio Bonanno (U. Bern)
      LNF_QCD_topo_CBonanno.pdf
    • 3:00 PM
      Coffee Break
    • 2
      Thermal Production of QCD Axions from the Early Universe

      A population of thermally produced QCD axions from the early universe is expected to exist, in addition to a cold dark matter population. I discuss axion production from scattering with pions, including momentum dependence. I will show that to exploit the reach of current and upcoming cosmological surveys, non-perturbative calculations around and above the QCD crossover are needed. I will also review production from other Standard Model particles (quarks, leptons).

      Speakers: Alessio Notari (Universitat de Barcelona), Alessio Notari (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
      FRASCATI_AXIONS_Notari.pdf
    • 3
      QCD axion at the QCD scale?

      In a recent paper, Murayama proposed a GeV-scale axion scenario in which the up-quark mass arises dynamically from the QCD chiral condensate, which at the same time spontaneously breaks a Peccei–Quinn symmetry. If correct, this striking idea would imply that the QCD axion has effectively already been discovered and is hidden among the known pseudoscalar resonances in the 1–2 GeV region. The proposal, however, faces a serious challenge: it predicts too large a mass splitting between neutral and charged pions. In this talk, I will discuss several attempts to overcome this problem. Despite some partial improvements, we find a structural obstruction: the new Peccei–Quinn spurion breaks the accidental isospin symmetry of the chiral Lagrangian, generating an enhanced higher-order operator. This in turn also leads to sizable distortions in pion-pion scattering. Although a successful resolution appears unlikely, a definitive conclusion would require lattice simulations of the resulting deformed QCD theory.

      Speaker: Luca Di Luzio (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
      Di Luzio_GeVAxion.pdf
    • 4
      Discussion Session