Cosmology and Hierarchy in Stabilized Randall-Sundrum Models

We consider the cosmology and hierarchy of scales in models with branes immersed in a five-dimensional curved spacetime subject to radion stabilization. The universe naturally find itself in the radiation-dominated epoch when the inter-brane spacing is static and stable, independent of the form of the stabilizing potential. We recover the standard Friedmann equations without assuming a specific form for the bulk energy-momentum tensor. We address the hierarchy problem in the context of a quartic and exponential stabilizing potential, and find that in either case the presence of a negative tension brane is required and that the string scale can be as low as the electroweak scale. In the situation of self-tuning branes (corresponding to an exponential potential) where the bulk cosmological constant is set to zero, the brane tensions have hierarchical values.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. Talk given at DPF 2000, Columbus, OH, August 12, 200

COHERENT constraints on nonstandard neutrino interactions

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering consistent with the standard model has been observed by the COHERENT experiment. We study nonstandard neutrino interactions using the detected spectrum. For the case in which the nonstandard interactions (NSI) are induced by a vector mediator lighter than 50 MeV, we obtain constraints on the coupling of the mediator. For a heavier mediator, we find that degeneracies between the NSI parameters severely weaken the constraints. However, these degeneracies do not affect COHERENT constraints on the effective NSI parameters for matter propagation in the Earth.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. Version to appear in PL

One diagonal texture or cofactor zero of the neutrino mass matrix

In view of the recent measurement of nonzero $\theta_{13}$, we carry out a systematic study of a simple class of neutrino models that has one diagonal texture or cofactor zero in the mass matrix. There are seven free parameters in the model and five of them are already measured by neutrino oscillation experiments; some cases for the normal or inverted hierarchy are excluded and for the rest we obtain the preferred values for the lightest neutrino mass and Dirac CP phase. We find that there are strong similarities between one diagonal texture zero models with one mass hierarchy and one diagonal cofactor zero models with the opposite mass hierarchy. We also make predictions for neutrinoless double beta decay for these models. For the one cofactor zero models, we present a simple realization based on a new U(1) gauge symmetry.Comment: 19 pages, 6 eps figures; references added and notation change

Electromagnetic properties of dark matter: dipole moments and charge form factor

A neutral dark matter particle may possess an electric dipole moment (EDM) or a magnetic dipole moment (MDM), so that its scattering with nuclei is governed by electromagnetic interactions. If the moments are associated with relevant operators of dimension-5, they may be detectable in direct search experiments. We calculate complete expressions of the scattering cross sections and the recoil energy spectra for dark matter with these attributes. We also provide useful formulae pertinent to dark matter that interacts via an electric charge form factor (CFF) which is related to the charge radius defined by an effective dimension-6 operator. We show that a 7 GeV dark matter particle with an EDM, MDM or CFF easily reproduces the CoGeNT excess while remaining consistent with null searches.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. Version to appear in PL

Zeroes of the Neutrino Mass Matrix

We assume there to be precisely three left-handed neutrino states whose Majorana masses are generated by an unspecified mechanism. Were CP conserved, the symmetric neutrino mass matrix M would be real and all six of its distinct entries could be experimentally determined. But CP is not conserved so that M is likely to be complex. As a result, not all nine of its convention-independent real parameters can be determined without an appeal to theory. Thus we examine the possibility that a restricted class of neutrino mass matrices may suffice to describe current data, namely those complex symmetric matrices several of whose entries vanish. We find that there are seven acceptable textures with two independent zeroes, and we explore their contrasting phenomenological implications. Textures with more than two independent zeroes appear to be excluded by experiment.Comment: Version to appear in PL