In this paper, the production of Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) at B-factories via the process e + e − → γa is revisited. To this purpose, the relevant cross-section is computed via an effective Lagrangian with simultaneous ALP couplings to b-quarks and photons. The interplay between resonant and non-resonant contributions is shown to be relevant for experiments operating at √ s = m Υ(nS) , with n = 1, 2, 3, while the non-resonant one dominates at Υ(4S). These effects imply that the experimental searches performed at different quarkonia resonances are sensitive to complementary combinations of ALP couplings. To illustrate these results, constraints from existing BaBar and Belle data on ALPs decaying into invisible final states are derived, and the prospects for the Belle-II experiment are discussed.

The minimal SO(5)/SO(4) linear σ model is extended including an additional complex scalar field, singlet under the global SO(5) and the Standard Model gauge symmetries. The presence of this scalar field creates the conditions to generate an axion à la KSVZ, providing a solution to the strong CP problem, or an axion-like-particle. Different choices for the PQ charges are possible and lead to physically distinct Lagrangians. The internal consistency of each model necessarily requires the study of the scalar potential describing the SO(5) → SO(4), electroweak and PQ symmetry breaking. A single minimal scenario is identified and the associated scalar potential is minimised including counterterms needed to ensure one-loop renormalizability. In the allowed parameter space, phenomenological features of the scalar degrees of freedom, of the exotic fermions and of the axion are illustrated. Two distinct possibilities for the axion arise: either it is a QCD axion with an associated scale larger than ∼ 10 5 TeV and therefore falling in the category of the invisible axions; or it is a more massive axion-like-particle, such as a 1 GeV axion with an associated scale of ∼ 200 TeV, that may show up in collider searches.

Axion and axion-like particle models are typically affected by a strong fine-tuning problem in conceiving the electroweak and the Peccei-Quinn breaking scales. Within the context of the Minimal Linear σ Model, axion-like particle constructions are identified where this hierarchy problem is solved, accounting for a TeV Peccei-Quinn breaking scale and a pseudoscalar particle with a mass larger than 10 MeV. Potential signatures at the LHC are discussed.