Misalignment mechanism
![]() | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2015) |
![]() | This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2021) |
The misalignment mechanism is a hypothesized effect in the Peccei–Quinn theory proposed solution to the strong-CP problem in quantum mechanics.[1] The effect occurs when a particle's field has an initial value that is not at or near a potential minimum. This causes the particle's field to oscillate around the nearest minimum, eventually dissipating energy by decaying into other particles until the minimum is attained.
In the case of hypothesized axions created in the early universe, the initial values are random because of the masslessness of axions in the high temperature plasma. Near the critical temperature of quantum chromodynamics, axions possess a temperature-dependent mass that enters a damped oscillation until the potential minimum is reached.
References[]
- ^ Markus Kuster; Georg Raffelt; Berta Beltrán (7 December 2007). Axions: Theory, Cosmology, and Experimental Searches. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 85–. ISBN 978-3-540-73517-5.
- Astroparticle physics
- Physics stubs