We consider a massless, minimally coupled scalar with a quartic self-interaction which is released in Bunch-Davies vacuum in locally de Sitter background of an inflating universe. It was shown, in this system, that quantum effects can induce a temporary phase of super-acceleration causing a violation of the Weak Energy Condition on cosmological scales. In this paper we investigate the system's stability by studying the behavior of linearized perturbations in the quantum-corrected effective field equation at one and two-loop order. We show that the time dependence we infer from the quantum-corrected mode function is in perfect agreement with the system developing a positive mass squared. The maximum induced mass remains perturbatively small and it does not go tachyonic. Thus, the system is stable.
In this paper, we improve the calculation of the relic gravitational waves (RGW) in two aspects: First, we investigate the transfer function after considering the redshift-suppression effect, the accelerating expansion effect, the damping effect of free-streaming relativistic particles, and the damping effect of cosmic phase transition, and give a simple approximate analytic expression, which clearly illustrates the dependent relations on the cosmological parameters. Second, we develop a numerical method to calculate the primordial power spectrum of RGW at a very wide frequency range, where the observed constraints on $n_s$ (the scalar spectral index) and $P_S(k_0)$ (the amplitude of primordial scalar spectrum) and the Hamilton-Jacobi equation are used. This method is applied to two kinds of inflationary models, which all satisfy the current constraints on $n_s$, $\alpha$ (the running of $n_s$) and $r$ (the tensor-scalar ratio). We plot them in the $r-\Omega_g$ diagram, where $\Omega_g$ is the strength of RGW, and study their detection by the CMB experiments and laser interferometers.
Physics is facing contingency. Not only in facts but also in laws (the frontier becoming extremely narrow). Cosmic natural selection is a tantalizing idea to explain the apparently highly improbable structure of our Universe. In this brief note I will study the creation of Universes by black holes in -string inspired- higher order curvature gravity.
We present a review of neutrino phenomenology in the minimal seesaw model (MSM), an economical and intriguing extension of the Standard Model with only two heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos. Given current neutrino oscillation data, the MSM can predict the neutrino mass spectrum and constrain the effective masses of the tritium beta decay and the neutrinoless double-beta decay. We outline five distinct schemes to parameterize the neutrino Yukawa-coupling matrix of the MSM. The lepton flavor mixing and baryogenesis via leptogenesis are investigated in some detail by taking account of possible texture zeros of the Dirac neutrino mass matrix. We derive an upper bound on the CP-violating asymmetry in the decay of the lighter right-handed Majorana neutrino. The effects of the renormalization-group evolution on the neutrino mixing parameters are analyzed, and the correlation between the CP-violating phenomena at low and high energies is highlighted. We show that the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe can naturally be interpreted through the resonant leptogenesis mechanism at the TeV scale. The lepton-flavor-violating rare decays, such as $\mu \to e + \gamma$, are also discussed in the supersymmetric extension of the MSM.
For subscribe options to combined physics archives, e-mail To: physics@arXiv.org, Subject: subscribe ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For help on viewing and making submissions, see this http URL For a list of archive mirror sites, see this http URL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Third-party submissions cause excessive problems. Author self-submissions are exceedingly preferred. E-mail submissions have been discontinued in favor of better support for Web submissions. See this http URL
We discuss two aspects of f(R) theories of gravity in metric formalism. We first study the reasons to introduce a scalar-tensor representation for these theories and the behavior of this representation in the limit to General Relativity, f(R)--> R. We find that the scalar-tensor representation is well behaved even in this limit. Then we work out the exact equations for spherically symmetric sources using the original f(R) representation, solve the linearized equations, and compare our results with recent calculations of the literature. We observe that the linearized solutions are strongly affected by the cosmic evolution, which makes very unlikely that the cosmic speedup be due to f(R) models with correcting terms relevant at low curvatures.
A flexible spectral code for the study of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics is presented. Aiming at investigating the physics of slowly rotating magnetized compact stars, this new code makes use of various physically motivated approximations. Among them, the relativistic anelastic approximation is a key ingredient of the current version of the code. In this article, we mainly outline the method, putting emphasis on algorithmic techniques that enable to benefit as much as possible of the non-dissipative character of spectral methods, showing also a potential astrophysical application and providing a few illustrative tests.
It is shown that gravitinos with mass m_{3/2} ~ 0.1-1 MeV may provide suitable cold dark matter candidates in scenarios of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) under SO(10) grand unification coupled to supergravity, which accommodate a messenger sector of mass scale M_X ~ 10^6 GeV. This is due to the combined effects of renormalizable loop-suppressed operators and generic non-renormalizable ones governing the dilution of a pre-existing equilibrium gravitino abundance via messenger decay. The above range of gravitino and messenger masses can be accommodated in indirect GMSB scenarios. The gravitino abundance does not depend on the post-inflationary reheat temperature and it is shown that leptogenesis can generate successfully the baryon asymmetry.
An important ingredient in the kinetic description of sterile neutrino production via active-sterile oscillations in a medium is the time averaged transition probability $<P_{a\to s}>$. We study the conditions for its quantum Zeno suppression at high temperature. In analogy with the neutral kaon system we point out that there are \emph{two} different relaxation rates corresponding to the propagating modes in the medium. We find these to be: $\Gamma_1(k) = \Gamma_{aa}(k) \cos^2\theta_m(k); \Gamma_2(k) = \Gamma_{aa}(k) \sin^2\theta_m(k)$ where $\Gamma_{aa}(k)\propto G^2_F k T^4$ is the active neutrino scattering rate and $\theta_m(k)$ is the mixing angle in the medium. This feature leads to a dramatic modification of the time averaged transition probability and to more restrictive conditions for quantum Zeno suppression: i) $\Gamma_{aa}(k) \gg \Delta E(k)$ with $\Delta E(k)$ the active-sterile oscillation frequency \emph{and} ii) an MSW resonance. For $m_s\sim \textrm{keV}$ sterile neutrinos with $\sin2\theta \lesssim 10^{-3}$ the conditions for quantum Zeno suppression are fulfilled \emph{only} near MSW resonances. Far away from these the effective sterile neutrino production rate is $\frac{\Gamma_{aa}(k)}{4} $ as a consequence of a wide separation of relaxation scales. Sterile neutrino production is favored at temperatures far away from MSW resonances.
Upper limits on neutrino masses from cosmology have been reported recently to reach the impressive sub-eV level, which is competitive with future terrestrial neutrino experiments. In this brief overview of the latest limits from cosmology I point out some of the caveats that should be borne in mind when interpreting the significance of these limits.
We reminisce on the first steps of the cosmology community in Portugal, which can be traced back to about 20 years ago, and discuss its achievements and current specificities. We also reflect on the aspirations, hopes and challenges for the future.
Nonlinear interactions involving electrostatic upper-hybrid (UH), ion-cyclotron (IC), lower-hybrid (LH), and Alfven waves in quantum magnetoplasmas are considered. For this purpose, the quantum hydrodynamical equations are used to derive the governing equations for nonlinearly coupled UH, IC, LH, and Alfven waves. The equations are then Fourier analyzed to obtain nonlinear dispersion relations, which admit both decay and modulational instabilities of the UH waves at quantum scales. The growth rates of the instabilities are presented. They can be useful in applications of our work to diagnostics in laboratory and astrophysical settings.
Classically the Harmonic Oscillator (HO) is the generic example for the use of angle and action variables phi in R mod 2 pi and I > 0. But the symplectic transformation (\phi,I) to (q,p) is singular for (q,p) = (0,0). Globally {(q,p)} has the structure of the plane R^2, but {(phi,I)} that of the punctured plane R^2 -(0,0). This implies qualitative differences for the QM of the two phase spaces: The quantizing group for the plane R^2 consists of the (centrally extended) translations generated by {q,p,1}, but the corresponding group for {(phi,I)} is SO(1,2) = Sp(2,R)/Z_2, (Sp(2,R): symplectic group of the plane), with Lie algebra basis {h_0 = I, h_1 = I cos phi, h_2 = - I sin phi}. In the QM for the (phi,I)-model the three h_j correspond to self-adjoint generators K_j, j=0,1,2, of irreducible unitary representations (positive discrete series) for SO(1,2) or one of its infinitely many covering groups, the Bargmann index k > 0 of which determines the ground state energy E (k, n=0) = hbar omega k of the (phi,I)-Hamiltonian H(K). For an m-fold covering the lowest possible value is k=1/m, which can be made arbitrarily small! The operators Q and P, now expressed as functions of the K_j, keep their usual properties, but the richer structure of the K_j quantum model of the HO is ``erased'' when passing to the simpler Q,P model! The (phi,I)-variant of the HO implies many experimental tests: Mulliken-type experiments for isotopic diatomic molecules, experiments with harmonic traps for atoms, ions and BE-condensates, with the (Landau) levels of charged particles in magnetic fields, with the propagation of light in vacuum, passing through electric or magnetic fields. Finally it leads to a new theoretical estimate for the quantum vacuum energy of fields and its relation to the cosmological constant.
For subscribe options to combined physics archives, e-mail To: physics@arXiv.org, Subject: subscribe ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For help on viewing and making submissions, see this http URL For a list of archive mirror sites, see this http URL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Third-party submissions cause excessive problems. Author self-submissions are exceedingly preferred. E-mail submissions have been discontinued in favor of better support for Web submissions. See this http URL
In this paper we directly test the possibility that the Newtonian gravitational constant G may experience spatial variations over ranges 0.01-5 AU in various extrasolar multi-planet systems by means of the third Kepler's law. The answer is negative, within the experimental errors, for all the considered systems. A comparison with an analogous test previously performed in our Solar System is made.
We show that under a new U(1) gauge symmetry, which is non-anomalous in the presence of one ``right-handed neutrino'' per generation and consistent with the standard model Yukawa couplings, the most general fermion charges are determined in terms of four rational parameters. This generalization of the B-L symmetry with generation-dependent lepton charges leads to neutrino masses induced by operators of high dimensionality. Neutrino masses are thus naturally small without invoking physics at energies above the TeV scale, whether neutrinos are Majorana or Dirac fermions. This ``Leptocratic'' Model predicts the existence of light quasi-sterile neutrinos with consequences for cosmology, and implies that collider experiments may reveal the origin of neutrino masses.
In models with the fundamental gravity scale in the TeV range, early cosmology is quite different from the standard picture, because the universe must have arisen at a much lower temperature and the electroweak symmetry was probably never restored. In this context, baryogenesis appears to be problematic: if the involved physics is essentially that of the Standard Model, ``conventional'' non-conserving baryon number processes are completely negligible at such low temperatures. In this paper we show that the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe may be generated by gravitational decay of TeV-mass particles: such objects can be out of equilibrium after inflation and, if their mass is of the same order of magnitude as the true quantum gravity scale, they can quickly decay through a black hole intermediate state, violating global symmetries, in particular, baryon number. In this context, we take advantage of the fact that the ``Sakharov conditions'' for baryogenesis can be more easily satisfied with a low fundamental scale of gravity.
Because of the presence of a liquid-gas phase transition in nuclear matter, compact-star matter can present a region of instability against the formation of clusters. We investigate this phase separation in a matter composed of neutrons, protons and electrons, within a Skyrme-Lyon mean-field approach. Matter instability and phase properties are characterized through the study of the free-energy curvature. The effect of beta-equilibrium is also analyzed in detail, and we show that the opacity to neutrinos has an influence on the presence of clusterized matter in finite-temperature proto-neutron stars.
For subscribe options to combined physics archives, e-mail To: physics@arXiv.org, Subject: subscribe ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For help on viewing and making submissions, see this http URL For a list of archive mirror sites, see this http URL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Third-party submissions cause excessive problems. Author self-submissions are exceedingly preferred. E-mail submissions have been discontinued in favor of better support for Web submissions. See this http URL
A brane-world universe consists of a 4-dimensional brane embedded into a 5-dimensional space-time (bulk). We apply the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner decomposition to the brane-world, which results in a 3+1+1 break-up of the bulk. We present the canonical theory of brane cosmology based on this decomposition. The Hamiltonian equations allow for the study of any physical phenomena in brane gravity. This method gives new prospects for studying the initial value problem, stability analysis, brane black holes, cosmological perturbation theory and canonical quantization in brane-worlds.
The spherically symmetric, static spacetime generated by a cross-flow of non-interacting null dust streams can be conveniently interpreted as the radiation atmosphere of a star, which also receives exterior radiation. Formally, such a superposition of sources is equivalent to an anisotropic fluid. Therefore, there is a preferred time function in the system, defined by this reference fluid. This internal time is employed as a canonical coordinate, in order to linearize the Hamiltonian constraint. This turns to be helpful in the canonical quantization of the geometry of the radiating atmosphere.
We discuss the impact of Lorentz violation on the cosmology. Firstly, we show that the Lorentz violation affects the dynamics of the chaotic inflationary model and gives rise to an interesting feature. Secondly, we propose the Lorentz violating DGP brane models where the Lorentz violating terms on the brane accelerate the current universe. We conjecture that the ghost disappears in the Lorentz violating DGP models.
There are compelling reasons to think that new physics will appear at or below the TeV-scale. It is not known what form this new physics will take, however. Although The Large Hadron collider is very likely to discover new particles associated with the TeV-scale, it may be difficult for it to determine the nature of those particles, whether superpartners, Kaluza-Klein modes or other states. In this article, we consider how direct and indirect dark matter detection experiments may provide information complementary to hadron colliders, which can be used to discriminate between supersymmetry, models with universal extra dimensions, and Little Higgs theories. We find that, in many scenarios, dark matter experiments can be effectively used to distinguish between these possibilities.
We show that Supercritical-String-Cosmology (SSC) off-equilibrium and time-dependent-dilaton effects lead to a smoothly evolving dark energy for the last 10 billion years in concordance with all presently available astrophysical data. Such effects dilute by a factor O (10) the supersymmetric dark matter density (neutralinos), relaxing severe WMAP 1,3 constraints on the SUSY parameter space. Thus, LHC anticipated searches/discoveries may discriminate between conventional and Supercritical-String Cosmology.
Relativistic nucleus-nucleus reactions occur mainly through the Strong or Electromagnetic (EM) interactions. Transport codes often neglect the latter. This work shows the importance of including EM interactions for space radiation applications.
An interesting accident of nature is that the peak of the cosmic ray spectrum, for both protons and heavier nuclei, occurs near the pion production threshold. The Boltzmann transport equation contains a term which is the cosmic ray flux multiplied by the cross section. Therefore when considering pion and kaon production from proton-proton reactions, small cross sections at low energy can be as important as larger cross sections at higher energy. This is also true for subthreshold kaon production in nuclear collisions, but not for subthreshold pion production.
Modern cosmic ray transport codes, that are capable of use for a variety of applications, need to include all significant atomic, nuclear and particle reactions at a variety of energies. Lepton pair production from nucleus-nucleus collisions has not been included in transport codes to date. Using the methods of Baur, Bertulani and Baron, the present paper provides estimates of electron-positron pair production cross sections for nuclei and energies relevant to cosmic ray transport. It is shown that the cross sections are large compared to other typical processes such as single neutron removal due to strong or electromagnetic interactions. Therefore lepton pair production may need to be included in some transport code applications involving MeV electrons.
For subscribe options to combined physics archives, e-mail To: physics@arXiv.org, Subject: subscribe ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For help on viewing and making submissions, see this http URL For a list of archive mirror sites, see this http URL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Third-party submissions cause excessive problems. Author self-submissions are exceedingly preferred. E-mail submissions have been discontinued in favor of better support for Web submissions. See this http URL
We study superconducting transition temperature ($T_c$) of oxygen-doped double-layer high-temperature superconductors YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+\delta}$ (0 $\le$ $\delta$ $\le$ 1) as a function of the oxygen dopant concentration ($\delta$) and planar hole-doping concentration ($P_{pl}$). We find that $T_c$, while clearly influenced by the development of the chain ordering as seen in the $T_c$ $vs.$ $\delta$ plot, lies on a universal curve originating at the critical hole concentration ($P_c$) = 1/16 in the $T_c$ $vs.$ $P_{pl}$ plot. Our analysis suggests that the universal behavior of $T_c$($P_{pl}$) can be understood in terms of the competition and collaboration of chemical-phases and electronic-phases that exist in the system. We conclude that the global superconductivity behavior of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+\delta}$ as a function of doping is electronically driven and dictated by pristine electronic phases at magic doping numbers that follow the hierarchical order based on $P_c$, such as 2 $\times$ $P_c$, 3 $\times$ $P_c$ and 4 $\times$ $P_c$. We find that there are at least two intrinsic electronic superconducting phases of $T_c$ = 60 K at 2 $\times$ $P_c$ = 1/8 and $T_c$ = 90 K at 3 $\times$ $P_c$ = 3/16.
We study head-on collisions of boson stars in three dimensions. We consider evolutions of two boson stars which may differ in their phase or have opposite frequencies but are otherwise identical. Our studies show that these phase differences result in different late time behavior and gravitational wave output.
The issue of the equivalence between Jordan and Einstein conformal frames in scalar-tensor gravity is revisited, with emphasis on implementing running units in the latter. The lack of affine parametrization for timelike worldlines and the cosmological constant problem in the Einstein frame are clarified, and a paradox in the literature about cosmological singularities appearing only in one frame is solved. While, classically, the two conformal frames are physically equivalent, they seem to be inequivalent at the quantum level.
We use the `moving puncture' approach to perform fully non-linear evolutions of spinning quasi-circular black-hole binaries with individual spins not aligned with the orbital angular momentum. We evolve configurations with the individual spins (parallel and equal in magnitude) pointing in the orbital plane and 45-degrees above the orbital plane. We introduce a technique to measure the spin direction and track the precession of the spin during the merger, as well as measure the spin flip in the remnant horizon. The former configuration completes 1.75 orbits before merging, with the spin precessing by 98-degrees and the final remnant horizon spin flipped by ~72-degrees with respect to the component spins. The latter configuration completes 2.25 orbits, with the spins precessing by 151-degrees and the final remnant horizon spin flipped ~34-degrees with respect to the component spins. These simulations show for the first time how the spins are reoriented during the final stage of binary black hole mergers verifying the hypothesis of the spin-flip phenomenon. We also compute the track of the holes before merger and observe a precession of the orbital plane with frequency similar to the orbital frequency and amplitude increasing with time.
We discuss a toy model where baryogenesis and cosmic acceleration are driven by a leptonic quintessence field coupled to the standard model sector via a massive mediating scalar field. It does not require the introduction of B-L-violating interactions below the inflationary scale. Instead, a B-L-asymmetry is stored in the quintessence field, which compensates for the corresponding observed baryon asymmetry.
We investigate the cosmological signatures of instantons mediating tunneling between de Sitter minima. For generic potentials the Coleman-de Luccia instanton does not necessarily exist; when it does not, the instanton which contributes to the decay rate is the trivial constant solution, known as the Hawking-Moss instanton. With the aid of a toy model we interpret this solution and describe the resulting cosmology. In neither the Coleman-de Luccia nor Hawking-Moss case can the resulting cosmology be closed. An observation of significant positive curvature would therefore rule out the possibility that our universe arose from any transition from a neighboring minimum in the string-theory landscape.
A pedagogical introduction to aspects of string cosmology, including the landscape (BPBT) solution to the cosmological constant problem, brane-antibrane inflation, warped compactification, the KKLMMT model, the eta problem of SUGRA models, DBI inflation, Kahler modulus and racetrack inflation, the D3-D7 model, cosmic superstrings, and the problem of reheating. Also includes basic methods for phenomenology of multifield models with nonstandard kinetic terms.
For subscribe options to combined physics archives, e-mail To: physics@arXiv.org, Subject: subscribe ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For help on viewing and making submissions, see this http URL For a list of archive mirror sites, see this http URL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Third-party submissions cause excessive problems. Author self-submissions are exceedingly preferred. E-mail submissions have been discontinued in favor of better support for Web submissions. See this http URL