 | This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.14.041015. (October 2024) |
| Interactions | Gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, weak nuclear |
|---|---|
| Status | Hypothetical |
| Symbol | A0, a, θ |
| Theorized | 1978, Wilczek and Weinberg |
| Mass | 10−5 to 1 eV/c2 [1] |
| Electric charge | 0 |
| Spin | 0 |
An axion (/ˈæksiɒn/) is a hypothetical elementary particle originally theorized in 1978 independently by Frank Wilczek and Steven Weinberg as the Goldstone boson of Peccei–Quinn theory, which had been proposed in 1977 to solve the strong CP problem in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). If axions exist and have low mass within a specific range, they are of interest as a possible component of cold dark matter.
- ^ Peccei, R. D. (2008). "The Strong CP Problem and Axions". In Kuster, Markus; Raffelt, Georg; Beltrán, Berta (eds.). Axions: Theory, Cosmology, and Experimental Searches. Lecture Notes in Physics. Vol. 741. pp. 3–17. arXiv:hep-ph/0607268. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-73518-2_1. ISBN 978-3-540-73517-5. S2CID 119482294.