3,342 research outputs found
Laboratory Limits on Theories with Sterile Neutrinos in the Bulk
We discuss the phenomenological consequences of theories which describe
sterile neutrinos in large extra dimensions, in the so-called bulk. We briefly
outline how the cumulative non-decoupling effect due to the tower of
Kaluza-Klein singlet neutrinos may equivalently be described by a
higher-dimensional effective theory with original order-unity Yukawa couplings.
Based on this cumulative phenomenon, we obtain strong constraints on the
fundamental quantum gravity scale and/or on the higher-dimensional Yukawa
couplings.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in Proc. of the DPF2000 (August 9-12, 2000), Ohio
State University, Columbus, Ohio, US
W physics at the ILC with polarized beams as a probe of the Littlest Higgs Model
We study the possibility of using W pair production and leptonic decay of one
of the W's at the ILC with polarized beams as a probe of the Littlest Higgs
Model. We consider cross-sections, polarization fractions of the W's, leptonic
decay energy and angular distributions, and left-right polarization asymmetry
as probes of the model. With parameter values allowed by present experimental
constraints detectable effects on these observables at typical ILC energies of
500 GeV and 800 GeV will be present. Beam polarization is further found to
enhance the sensitivity.Comment: 17 pages, plain latex, 6 figures, replaced with version accepted by
JHEP, typographical errors removed, notation and references improved, new
references added, explanation added in appendix regarding beam polarization
dependenc
Can superhorizon perturbations drive the acceleration of the Universe?
It has recently been suggested that the acceleration of the Universe can be
explained as the backreaction effect of superhorizon perturbations using second
order perturbation theory. If this mechanism is correct, it should also apply
to a hypothetical, gedanken universe in which the subhorizon perturbations are
absent. In such a gedanken universe it is possible to compute the deceleration
parameter measured by comoving observers using local covariant Taylor
expansions rather than using second order perturbation theory. The result
indicates that second order corrections to are present, but shows that if
is negative then its magnitude is constrained to be less than or of the
order of the square of the peculiar velocity on Hubble scales today. We argue
that since this quantity is constrained by observations to be small compared to
unity, superhorizon perturbations cannot be responsible for the acceleration of
the Universe.Comment: revtex, 4 pages, no figures; final published versio
Causality, Analyticity and an IR Obstruction to UV Completion
We argue that certain apparently consistent low-energy effective field
theories described by local, Lorentz-invariant Lagrangians, secretly exhibit
macroscopic non-locality and cannot be embedded in any UV theory whose S-matrix
satisfies canonical analyticity constraints. The obstruction involves the signs
of a set of leading irrelevant operators, which must be strictly positive to
ensure UV analyticity. An IR manifestation of this restriction is that the
"wrong" signs lead to superluminal fluctuations around non-trivial backgrounds,
making it impossible to define local, causal evolution, and implying a
surprising IR breakdown of the effective theory. Such effective theories can
not arise in quantum field theories or weakly coupled string theories, whose
S-matrices satisfy the usual analyticity properties. This conclusion applies to
the DGP brane-world model modifying gravity in the IR, giving a simple
explanation for the difficulty of embedding this model into controlled stringy
backgrounds, and to models of electroweak symmetry breaking that predict
negative anomalous quartic couplings for the W and Z. Conversely, any
experimental support for the DGP model, or measured negative signs for
anomalous quartic gauge boson couplings at future accelerators, would
constitute direct evidence for the existence of superluminality and macroscopic
non-locality unlike anything previously seen in physics, and almost
incidentally falsify both local quantum field theory and perturbative string
theory.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures; v2: analyticity arguments improved, discussion
on non-commutative theories and minor clarifications adde
Trace anomalies and chiral Ward identities
In a simple abelian spinor field theory, the canonical trace identities for
certain axial-vector and axial-scalar operators are reexamined in dimensional
regularization, some disagreements with previous results are found and an
interesting new phenomenon is observed and briefly discussed.Comment: 4 pages, no figure, typos remove
Anti-Gravitation
The possibility of a symmetry between gravitating and anti-gravitating
particles is examined. The properties of the anti-gravitating fields are
defined by their behavior under general diffeomorphisms. The equations of
motion and the conserved canonical currents are derived, and it is shown that
the kinetic energy remains positive whereas the new fields can make a negative
contribution to the source term of Einstein's field equations. The interaction
between the two types of fields is naturally suppressed by the Planck scale.Comment: replaced with published versio
Signals of Supersymmetric Lepton Flavor Violation at the LHC
In a generic supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, there will be
lepton flavor violation at a neutral gaugino vertex due to misalignment between
the lepton Yukawa couplings and the slepton soft masses. Sleptons produced at
the LHC through the cascade decays of squarks and gluinos can give a sizable
number of events with 4 leptons. This channel could give a clean signature of
supersymmetric lepton flavor violation under conditions which are identified.Comment: 21 page
New Dimensions at a Millimeter to a Fermi and Superstrings at a TeV
Recently, a new framework for solving the hierarchy problem has been proposed
which does not rely on low energy supersymmetry or technicolor. The
gravitational and gauge interactions unite at the electroweak scale, and the
observed weakness of gravity at long distances is due the existence of large
new spatial dimensions. In this letter, we show that this framework can be
embedded in string theory. These models have a perturbative description in the
context of type I string theory. The gravitational sector consists of closed
strings propagating in the higher-dimensional bulk, while ordinary matter
consists of open strings living on D3-branes. This scenario raises the exciting
possibility that the LHC and NLC will experimentally study both ordinary
aspects of string physics such as the production of narrow Regge-excitations of
all standard model particles, as well more exotic phenomena involving strong
gravity such as the production of black holes. The new dimensions can be probed
by events with large missing energy carried off by gravitons escaping into the
bulk. We finally discuss some important issues of model building, such as
proton stability, gauge coupling unification and supersymmetry breaking.Comment: 12 pages, late
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