Cornering the axion with <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>C</mml:mi><mml:mi>P</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math>-violating interactions
Ciaran A. J. O’Hare, Edoardo Vitagliano
Abstract
Besides $CP$-preserving interactions, axions and axion-like particles may also have small $CP$-violating scalar Yukawa interactions with nucleons and electrons. Any such interaction will generate macroscopic monopole-dipole forces which can be searched for experimentally. When the best experimental limits on scalar interactions are combined with stellar energy-loss arguments constraining pseudoscalar interactions, strong bounds can be set on $CP$-violating axion couplings which almost intersect the expectation for QCD models. Over the years, both astrophysical and laboratory tests have improved. We provide a much-needed up-to-date compilation of these constraints, showing improvements in some regions of parameter space by factors between 40 and 130. We advocate experimental opportunities, without astrophysical or dark-matter assumptions, to track down the axion in the lesser-explored corners of its parameter space.