An eta primer: solving the U(1) problem with AdS/QCD

Inspired by the AdS/CFT correspondence, we study the pseudoscalar mesons of QCD through a dual embedding in a strongly curved extra dimensional spacetime. This model incorporates the consequences of symmetry and has very few free parameters, due to constraints from five-dimensions and the operator product expansion of QCD. Using as inputs f(pi) and the pion, kaon, and rho masses, we compute the eta and eta prime masses to be 520 and 867 MeV, respectively. Their decay rates into photons are also computed and found to be in good agreement with data.