We propose a unified model of scalar particles that addresses the flavor hierarchies, solves the strong $CP$ problem, delivers a dark matter candidate, and provides the trigger for electroweak symmetry breaking. Besides furnishing a unification of the recently proposed axiflavon with a Goldstone-Higgs sector, the scenario can also be seen as adding a model of flavor (and strong $CP$ conservation along with axion dark matter) to elementary Goldstone-Higgs setups. In particular, we derive bounds on the axion decay constant from the need to generate a Standard-Model-like Higgs potential at low energies, which we confront with constraints from flavor physics. In the minimal implementation, we find that the axion decay constant is restricted to a thin stripe of $f_a\approx ({10}^{11}–10^{12})\mathrm{GeV}$, while adding right-handed neutrinos allows to realize a heavy-axion model at lower energies, down to $f_a\sim 10\mathrm{TeV}$.

• Received 10 September 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.99.015028

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.

Published by the American Physical Society