%0 Journal Article %T Effective description of axion defects %A P. K. Townsend %J Physics %D 1993 %I arXiv %R 10.1016/0370-2693(93)91499-D %X Axion strings and domain walls exhibit a number of novel effects in the presence of gauge fields, in particular the electromagnetic field. It is shown how these effects are reproduced in a model of Nambu-Goto-type strings and open or closed membranes coupled to gauge fields. The generalization to `axionic p-branes' is considered and it is shown how worldvolume gauge fields that arise in certain cases can be interpreted as Goldstone fields. %U http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9303171v1