Chaotic inflation in Jordan frame supergravity

We consider the inflationary scenario with non-minimal coupling in 4D Jordan frame supergravity. We find that there occurs a tachyonic instability along the direction of the accompanying non-inflaton field in generic Jordan frame supergravity models. We propose a higher order correction to the Jordan frame function for solving the tachyonic mass problem and show that the necessary correction can be naturally generated by the heavy thresholds without spoiling the slow-roll conditions. We discuss the implication of the result on the Higgs inflation in NMSSM.Comment: 16 pages, no figures, version to be published in JCA

Variant supercurrents and Noether procedure

Consistent supercurrent multiplets are naturally associated with linearized off-shell supergravity models. In arXiv:1002.4932 we presented the hierarchy of such supercurrents which correspond to all the models for linearized 4D N = 1 supergravity classified a few years ago. Here we analyze the correspondence between the most general supercurrent given in arXiv:1002.4932 and the one obtained eight years ago in hep-th/0110131 using the superfield Noether procedure. We apply the Noether procedure to the general N = 1 supersymmetric nonlinear sigma-model and show that it naturally leads to the so-called S-multiplet, revitalized in arXiv:1002.2228.Comment: 6 page

Field on Poincare group and quantum description of orientable objects

We propose an approach to the quantum-mechanical description of relativistic orientable objects. It generalizes Wigner's ideas concerning the treatment of nonrelativistic orientable objects (in particular, a nonrelativistic rotator) with the help of two reference frames (space-fixed and body-fixed). A technical realization of this generalization (for instance, in 3+1 dimensions) amounts to introducing wave functions that depend on elements of the Poincare group $G$. A complete set of transformations that test the symmetries of an orientable object and of the embedding space belongs to the group $\Pi =G\times G$. All such transformations can be studied by considering a generalized regular representation of $G$ in the space of scalar functions on the group, $f(x,z)$, that depend on the Minkowski space points $x\in G/Spin(3,1)$ as well as on the orientation variables given by the elements $z$ of a matrix $Z\in Spin(3,1)$. In particular, the field $f(x,z)$ is a generating function of usual spin-tensor multicomponent fields. In the theory under consideration, there are four different types of spinors, and an orientable object is characterized by ten quantum numbers. We study the corresponding relativistic wave equations and their symmetry properties.Comment: 46 page

Vacuum instability in external fields

We study particles creation in arbitrary space-time dimensions by external electric fields, in particular, by fields, which are acting for a finite time. The time and dimensional analysis of the vacuum instability is presented. It is shown that the distributions of particles created by quasiconstant electric fields can be written in a form which has a thermal character and seems to be universal. Its application, for example, to the particles creation in external constant gravitational field reproduces the Hawking temperature exactly.Comment: 36 pages, LaTe

Effect of Dynamical SU(2) Gluons to the Gap Equation of Nambu--Jona-Lasinio Model in Constant Background Magnetic Field

In order to estimate the effect of dynamical gluons to chiral condensate, the gap equation of SU(2) gauged Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model, under a constant background magnetic field, is investigated up to the two-loop order in 2+1 and 3+1 dimensions. We set up a general formulation allowing both cases of electric as well as magnetic background field. We rely on the proper time method to maintain gauge invariance. In 3+1 dimensions chiral symmetry breaking ($\chi$SB) is enhanced by gluons even in zero background magnetic field and becomes much striking as the background field grows larger. In 2+1 dimensions gluons also enhance $\chi$SB but whose dependence on the background field is not simple: dynamical mass is not a monotone function of background field for a fixed four-fermi coupling.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Dynamical Symmetry Breaking in Spaces with Constant Negative Curvature

By using the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, we study dynamical symmetry breaking in spaces with constant negative curvature. We show that the physical reason for zero value of critical coupling value $g_c = 0$ in these spaces is connected with the effective reduction of dimension of spacetime $1 + D \to 1 + 1$ in the infrared region, which takes place for any dimension $1 + D$. Since the Laplace-Beltrami operator has a gap in spaces with constant negative curvature, such an effective reduction for scalar fields is absent and there are not problems with radiative corrections due to scalar fields. Therefore, dynamical symmetry breaking with the effective reduction of the dimension of spacetime for fermions in the infrared region is consistent with the Mermin-Wagner-Coleman theorem, which forbids spontaneous symmetry breaking in (1 + 1)-dimensional spacetime.Comment: minor text changes, added new reference

Effect of electromagnetic fields on the creation of scalar particles in a flat Robertson-Walker space-time

The influence of electromagnetic fields on the creation of scalar particles from vacuum in a flat Robertson-Walker space-time is studied. The Klein Gordon equation with varying electric field and constant magnetic one is solved. The Bogoliubov transformation method is applied to calculate the pair creation probability and the number density of created particles. It is shown that the electric field amplifies the creation of scalar particles while the magnetic field minimizes it.Comment: Important modifications, 20 pages, To appear in Eurpean Physical Journal C. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1108.033

The Hubble Effective Potential

We generalize the effective potential to scalar field configurations which are proportional to the Hubble parameter of a homogeneous and isotropic background geometry. This may be useful in situations for which curvature effects are significant. We evaluate the one loop contribution to the Hubble Effective Potential for a massless scalar with arbitrary conformal and quartic couplings, on a background for which the deceleration parameter is constant. Among other things, we find that inflationary particle production leads to symmetry restoration at late times.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, version 2 published in JCAP with some typoes corrected and two additional reference

Cosmic acceleration from second order gauge gravity

We construct a phenomenological theory of gravitation based on a second order gauge formulation for the Lorentz group. The model presents a long-range modification for the gravitational field leading to a cosmological model provided with an accelerated expansion at recent times. We estimate the model parameters using observational data and verify that our estimative for the age of the Universe is of the same magnitude than the one predicted by the standard model. The transition from the decelerated expansion regime to the accelerated one occurs recently (at $\sim9.3\;Gyr$).Comment: RevTex4 15 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

HLA tapasin independence: broader peptide repertoire and HIV control.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I allotypes vary in their ability to present peptides in the absence of tapasin, an essential component of the peptide loading complex. We quantified tapasin dependence of all allotypes that are common in European and African Americans (n = 97), which revealed a broad continuum of values. Ex vivo examination of cytotoxic T cell responses to the entire HIV-1 proteome from infected subjects indicates that tapasin-dependent allotypes present a more limited set of distinct peptides than do tapasin-independent allotypes, data supported by computational predictions. This suggests that variation in tapasin dependence may impact the strength of the immune responses by altering peptide repertoire size. In support of this model, we observed that individuals carrying HLA class I genotypes characterized by greater tapasin independence progress more slowly to AIDS and maintain lower viral loads, presumably due to increased breadth of peptide presentation. Thus, tapasin dependence level, like HLA zygosity, may serve as a means to restrict or expand breadth of the HLA-I peptide repertoire across humans, ultimately influencing immune responses to pathogens and vaccines