Mixing-induced CP violating sources for electroweak baryogenesis from a semiclassical approach

The effects of flavor mixing in electroweak baryogenesis is investigated in a generalized semiclassical WKB approach. Through calculating the nonadiabatic corrections to the particle currents it is shown that extra CP violation sources arise from the off-diagonal part of the equation of motion of particles moving inside the bubble wall. This type of mixing-induced source is of the first order in derivative expansion of the Higgs condensate, but is oscillation suppressed. The numerical importance of the mixing-induced source is discussed in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and compared with the source term induced by semiclassical force. It is found that in a large parameter space where oscillation suppression is not strong enough, the mixing-induced source can dominate over that from the semiclassical force.Comment: 19 pp, 2 figs, 1 table, some comments added, to appear in Eur.Phys.J.

Magnetic Fields at First Order Phase Transition: A Threat to Electroweak Baryogenesis

The generation of the observed baryon asymmetry may have taken place during the electroweak phase transition, thus involving physics testable at LHC, a scenario dubbed electroweak baryogenesis. In this paper we point out that the magnetic field which is produced in the bubbles of a first order phase transition endangers the baryon asymmetry produced in the bubble walls. The reason being that the produced magnetic field couples to the sphaleron magnetic moment and lowers the sphaleron energy; this strengthens the sphaleron transitions inside the bubbles and triggers a more effective wash out of the baryon asymmetry. We apply this scenario to the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) where, in the absence of a magnetic field, successful electroweak baryogenesis requires the lightest CP-even Higgs and the right-handed stop masses to be lighter than about 127 GeV and 120 GeV, respectively. We show that even for moderate values of the magnetic field, the Higgs mass required to preserve the baryon asymmetry is below the present experimental bound. As a consequence electroweak baryogenesis within the MSSM should be confronted on the one hand to future measurements at the LHC on the Higgs and the right-handed stop masses, and on the other hand to more precise calculations of the magnetic field produced at the electroweak phase transition.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. Minor corrections and references added to match published versio

Cosmological Effects of Radion Oscillations

We show that the redshift of pressureless matter density due to the expansion of the universe generically induces small oscillations in the stabilized radius of extra dimensions (the radion field). The frequency of these oscillations is proportional to the mass of the radion and can have interesting cosmological consequences. For very low radion masses $m_b$ ($m_b\sim10-100 H_0\simeq10^{-32} eV$) these low frequency oscillations lead to oscillations in the expansion rate of the universe. The occurrence of acceleration periods could naturally lead to a resolution of the coincidence problem, without need of dark energy. Even though this scenario for low radion mass is consistent with several observational tests it has difficulty to meet fifth force constraints. If viewed as an effective Brans-Dicke theory it predicts $\omega=-1+\frac{1}{D}$ ($D$ is the number of extra dimensions), while experiments on scales larger than $1mm$ imply $\omega>2500$. By deriving the generalized Newtonian potential corresponding to a massive toroidally compact radion we demonstrate that Newtonian gravity is modified only on scales smaller than $m_b^{-1}$. Thus, these constraints do not apply for $m_b>10^{-3} eV$ (high frequency oscillations) corresponding to scales less than the current experiments ($0.3mm$). Even though these high frequency oscillations can not resolve the coincidence problem they provide a natural mechanism for dark matter generation. This type of dark matter has many similarities with the axion.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev. D. Clarifying comments added in the text and some additional references include

Quasi Free 238U (e,e'f)-Cross Section in Macroscopic-Microscopic Approach

We present the result of a theoretical study of inclusive quasi free electrofission of $^{238}$U. The off-shell $$cross sections for the quasi free reaction stage have been calculated within the Plane Wave Impulse Approximation (PWIA), using a Macroscopic -Microscopic description of the proton and neutron single particle momentum distributions. Electron wave function distortion corrections were included using the effective momentum approximation, and the Final State Interaction (FSI) effects were calculated using an optical potential. The fissility for the proton single hole excited states of the residual nucleus $^{237}$Pa was calculated both without and with contributions of the pre-equilibrium emission of the particles. The fissility for $^{237,238}U$ residual nuclei was calculated within the compound nucleus model. The $(e,e^{\prime}f)-$cross sections thus obtained were compared with available experimental data.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figure

Problems with Time-Varying Extra Dimensions or "Cardassian Expansion" as Alternatives to Dark Energy

It has recently been proposed that the Universe might be accelerating as a consequence of extra dimensions with time varying size. We show that although these scenarios can lead to acceleration, they run into serious difficulty when taking into account limits on the time variation of the four dimensional Newton's constant. On the other hand, models of ``Cardassian'' expansion based on extra dimensions which have been constructed so far violate the weak energy condition for the bulk stress energy, for parameters that give an accelerating universe.Comment: 8 pages, minor changes. To appear in Physical Review

Brane Cosmology in the Background of D-Brane with NS B Field

We study the cosmological evolution of the four-dimensional universe on the probe D3-brane in geodesic motion in the curved background of the source Dp-brane with non-zero NS B field. The Friedman equations describing the expansion of the brane universe are obtained and analyzed for various limits. We elaborate on corrections to the cosmological evolution due to nonzero NS B field.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX, revised version with minor corrections to appear in Phys. Rev.

A model of the Universe including Dark Energy accounted for by both a Quintessence Field and a (negative) Cosmological Constant

In this work we present a model of the universe in which dark energy is modelled explicitely with both a dynamical quintessence field and a cosmological constant. Our results confirm the possibility of a future collapsing universe (for a given region of the parameter space), which is necessary for a consistent formulation of string theory and quantum field theory. We have also reproduced the measurements of modulus distance from supernovae with good accuracy.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, only the results for the single exponential potential are preserved. One author added. Some changes in the reference section. Submitted to Physical Review

Brane oscillations and the cosmic coincidence problem

We show that, under general assumptions, in six-dimensional brane-world models with compactified large extra dimensions, the energy density of brane oscillations scales as that of cold dark matter and its present value is compatible with observations. Such value is obtained from the only dimensional scale in the theory, namely, the fundamental scale of gravity in six dimensions $M_6\sim 1$ TeV, without any fine-tuning or the introduction of additional mass scales apart from the large size of the extra dimensions. It has been suggested that the same kind of models could provide also the correct magnitude of the cosmological constant. This observation can be relevant for the resolution of the cosmic coincidence problem in the brane-world scenario.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX. Comments on the renormalization of the branon mass included. Final version to appear in Phys.Rev.D (R

Equation of State of Oscillating Brans-Dicke Scalar and Extra Dimensions

We consider a Brans-Dicke scalar field stabilized by a general power law potential with power index $n$ at a finite equilibrium value. Redshifting matter induces oscillations of the scalar field around its equilibrium due to the scalar field coupling to the trace of the energy momentum tensor. If the stabilizing potential is sufficiently steep these high frequency oscillations are consistent with observational and experimental constraints for arbitrary value of the Brans-Dicke parameter $\omega$. We study analytically and numerically the equation of state of these high frequency oscillations in terms of the parameters $\omega$ and $n$ and find the corresponding evolution of the universe scale factor. We find that the equation of state parameter can be negative and less than -1 but it is not related to the evolution of the scale factor in the usual way. Nevertheless, accelerating expansion is found for a certain parameter range. Our analysis applies also to oscillations of the size of extra dimensions (the radion field) around an equilibrium value. This duality between self-coupled Brans-Dicke and radion dynamics is applicable for $\omega= -1 + 1/D$ where D is the number of extra dimensions.Comment: 10 two-column pages, RevTex4, 8 figures. Added clarifying discussions, new references. Accepted in Phys. Rev. D (to appear

Scaling solution, radion stabilization, and initial condition for brane-world cosmology

We propose a new, self-consistent and dynamical scenario which gives rise to well-defined initial conditions for five-dimensional brane-world cosmologies with radion stabilization. At high energies, the five-dimensional effective theory is assumed to have a scale invariance so that it admits an expanding scaling solution as a future attractor. The system automatically approaches the scaling solution and, hence, the initial condition for the subsequent low-energy brane cosmology is set by the scaling solution. At low energies, the scale invariance is broken and a radion stabilization mechanism drives the dynamics of the brane-world system. We present an exact, analytic scaling solution for a class of scale-invariant effective theories of five-dimensional brane-world models which includes the five-dimensional reduction of the Horava-Witten theory, and provide convincing evidence that the scaling solution is a future attractor.Comment: 17 pages; version accepted for PRD, references adde