Domain Walls in QCD

Abstract

QCD was shown to have a nontrivial vacuum structure due to the topology of the theta = theta+2*pi*n parameter. As a result of this nontrivial topology, in the large N_c limit, quasi-stable QCD domain walls appear, characterized by a transition in the singlet eta' field. We discuss the physics of these QCD domain walls as well as related axion domain walls and we present a new type of axion wall which also contains an eta' transition. We argue that these domain walls are topologically stable in the limit N_c->infinity and classically stable for large but finite N_c, however, they can decay through a tunneling process. We argue that the qualitative features of these QCD domain walls -- namely their classical stability -- persist to the realistic case of N_c=3 and that it is at least possible that their lifetime could be macroscopically large. If it is, then QCD domain walls could play an important role in the evolution of early universe and may be detectable in energetic collisions such as those at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).

44 Pages (LaTeX JHEP), 8 Figures. Final Version. Improved explanations based on referee's comments

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