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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Alternative to axions

Nemanja Kaloper*

  • *Contact author: kaloper@physics.ucdavis.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 113, L011701 – Published 30 January, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4k8p-gpgr

Abstract

The U(1) CP-violating phase which arises below chiral symmetry breaking in a non-Abelian gauge theory is “secretly” the magnetic dual of the flux of a U(1) 4-form gauge field. Thus, the discharge of this 4-form flux by Schwinger production of charged membranes reduces the total CP-violating phase toward zero. This can safely restore CP symmetry to within the observational limits, θCP≲10−10, while also satisfying all limits from cosmology, when the charge and the tension of the gauge field sources are in the ≲keV range.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, L011701– Published 30 January, 2026
  • Received 20 May 2025
  • Accepted 24 December 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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