Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We calculate the $θ$ dependence of the vacuum energy in an infinite family of cousins of QCD, where the vacuum structure can be analyzed exactly. These theories are $\mathcal{N}=1$ EFTs that descend from $\mathcal{N}=2$ $SU(N_c)$ gauge theory with $N_f$ flavors of fundamental hypermultiplets, that are then deformed by anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking (AMSB). We reproduce results found in previous work that used the full $\mathcal{N}=2$ machinery but via a much simpler $\mathcal{N}=1$ method. Our method easily extends to infinitely many more theories for which the full $\mathcal{N}=2$ approach becomes intractable. We identify values of $θ$ for which the theory undergoes a phase transition, and find that they can occur at both fractional and irrational values of $θ/π$.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214012950