Probing the non-perturbative dynamics of SU(2) vacuum

The vacuum dynamics of SU(2) lattice gauge theory is studied by means of a gauge-invariant effective action defined using the lattice Schr\"odinger functional. Numerical simulations are performed both at zero and finite temperature. The vacuum is probed using an external constant Abelian chromomagnetic field. The results suggest that at zero temperature the external field is screened in the continuum limit. On the other hand at finite temperature it seems that confinement is restored by increasing the strength of the applied field.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figures, LaTeX2

Once again on electromagnetic properties of a domain wall interacting with charged fermions

The response to a magnetic flux is considered of the vacuum state of charged Dirac fermions interacting with a domain wall made of a neutral spinless field in (3+1) dimensions with the fermion mass having a phase variation across the wall. It is pointed out that due to simple C parity arguments the spontaneous magnetization for this system is necessarily zero, thus invalidating some claims to the contrary in the literature. The cancellation of the spontaneous magnetization is explicitly demonstrated in a particular class of models. The same calculation produces a general formula for the electric charge density induced by the magnetic flux -- an effect previously discussed in the literature for axionic domain walls. The distribution of the induced charge is calculated in specific models.Comment: 15 page

Dynamics of Ferromagnetic Walls: Gravitational Properties

We discuss a new mechanism which allows domain walls produced during the primordial electroweak phase transition. We show that the effective surface tension of these domain walls can be made vanishingly small due to a peculiar magnetic condensation induced by fermion zero modes localized on the wall. We find that in the perfect gas approximation the domain wall network behaves like a radiation gas. We consider the recent high-red shift supernova data and we find that the corresponding Hubble diagram is compatible with the presence in the Universe of a ideal gas of ferromagnetic domain walls. We show that our domain wall gas induces a completely negligible contribution to the large-scale anisotropy of the microwave background radiation.Comment: Replaced with revised version, accepted for publication in IJMP

Unstable Modes in Three-Dimensional SU(2) Gauge Theory

We investigate SU(2) gauge theory in a constant chromomagnetic field in three dimensions both in the continuum and on the lattice. Using a variational method to stabilize the unstable modes, we evaluate the vacuum energy density in the one-loop approximation. We compare our theoretical results with the outcomes of the numerical simulations.Comment: 24 pages, REVTEX 3.0, 3 Postscript figures included. (the whole postscript file (text+figures) is available on request from [email protected]

Baryogenesis and CP-Violating Domain Walls in the Background of a Magnetic Field

Within the domain wall-mediated electroweak baryogenesis, we study fermion scattering off a CP-violating wall in the background of an uniform magnetic field. In particular, we calculate the asymmetry between the reflection coefficients for right-handed and left-handed chiral fermions, \Delta R = R_{R \to L} - R_{L \to R}, which is of relevance to non local baryogenesis mechanisms.Comment: replaced with revised conclusion version, to be published in JCA

Influence of the Magnetic Field on the Fermion Scattering off Bubble and Kink Walls

We investigate the scattering of fermions off domain walls at the electroweak phase transition in presence of a magnetic field. We consider both the bubble wall and the kink domain wall. We derive and solve the Dirac equation for fermions with momentum perpendicular to the walls, and compute the transmission and reflection coefficients. In the case of kink domain wall, we briefly discuss the zero mode solutions localized on the wall. The possibile role of the magnetic field for the electroweak baryogenesis is also discussed.Comment: 11 pages and 3 eps figure

Ellipsoidal Universe Can Solve The CMB Quadrupole Problem

The recent three-year WMAP data have confirmed the anomaly concerning the low quadrupole amplitude compared to the best-fit \Lambda CDM prediction. We show that, allowing the large-scale spatial geometry of our universe to be plane-symmetric with eccentricity at decoupling or order 10^{-2}, the quadrupole amplitude can be drastically reduced without affecting higher multipoles of the angular power spectrum of the temperature anisotropy.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, minor changes, reference added, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Monopoles, confinement and deconfinement of (2+1)D compact lattice QED in external fields

The compact Abelian model in three space--time dimensions is studied in the presence of external electromagnetic fields at finite temperatures. We show that the deconfinement phase transition is independent on the strength of the external fields. This result is in agreement with our observation that the external fields create small--size magnetic dipoles from the vacuum which do not influence the confining properties of the model. Contrary to the deconfinement phase, the internal field in the direction of the applied external field is attenuated in the confinement phase, this screening becomes stronger with decreasing temperature.Comment: 22 pages, 24 EPS figures, LaTeX uses epsfig.st

Perturbation Theory with a Variational Basis: the Generalized Gaussian Effective Potential

The perturbation theory with a variational basis is constructed and analyzed.The generalized Gaussian effective potential is introduced and evaluated up to the second order for selfinteracting scalar fields in one and two spatial dimensions. The problem of the renormalization of the mass is discussed in details. Thermal corrections are incorporated. The comparison between the finite temperature generalized Gaussian effective potential and the finite temperature effective potential is critically analyzed. The phenomenon of the restoration at high temperature of the symmetry broken at zero temperature is discussed.Comment: RevTex, 49 pages, 16 eps figure

Lattice QCD Simulations in External Background Fields

We discuss recent results and future prospects regarding the investigation, by lattice simulations, of the non-perturbative properties of QCD and of its phase diagram in presence of magnetic or chromomagnetic background fields. After a brief introduction to the formulation of lattice QCD in presence of external fields, we focus on studies regarding the effects of external fields on chiral symmetry breaking, on its restoration at finite temperature and on deconfinement. We conclude with a few comments regarding the effects of electromagnetic background fields on gluodynamics.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures, minor changes and references added. To appear in Lect. Notes Phys. "Strongly interacting matter in magnetic fields" (Springer), edited by D. Kharzeev, K. Landsteiner, A. Schmitt, H.-U. Ye