Axion potential, topological defects and CP-odd bubbles in QCD

It follows on general grounds that the theta dependence in QCD is more complicated than suggested by the large N-c approach or instanton arguments. Generically, the vacuum energy E-vac(theta) is a multi-valued function of theta admitting the existence of metastable states. We discuss decays of such metastable vacua in the theory with and without the axion, and point out the potential relevance of this and related phenomena for constraining a dark matter axion. Based on the analysis of the axion potential, an idea for a new axion search experiment at RHIC is suggested. It is noted that the false vacuum decay proceeds with maximal violation of CP, even if theta = 0. We further speculate that the famous Sakharov criteria for baryogenesis could be satisfied at the QCD scale. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.