4,621 research outputs found
Detection of a fast, intense and unusual gamma ray transient
An unusual transient pulse of approximately 50 keV was detected by the gamma-ray burst sensor network using nine space probes and satellites. Its characteristics are unlike those of the known variety of gamma-ray bursts and therefore suggest that it was formed either by a completely different origin species or in a very different manner. It is identified with the LMC supernova remnant N49
Status of Electroweak Phase Transition and Baryogenesis
I review recent progress on the electroweak phase transition and
baryogenesis, focusing on the minimal supersymmetric standard model as the
source of new physics.Comment: 10 pp, 6 figures; plenary talk given at 6th Workshop on High Energy
Physics Phenomenology, 4 Jan. 2000, Chennai, India. v.2: added reference
Three precise gamma-ray burst source locations
The precise source regions of three moderately intense gamma ray bursts are derived. These events were observed with the first interplanetary burst sensor network. The optimum locations of the detectors, widely separated throughout the inner solar system, allowed for high accuracy, over-determined source fields of size 0.7 to 7.0 arc-min(2). All three locations are at fairly high galactic latitude in regions of low source confusion; none can be identified with a steady source object. Archived photographs were searched for optical transients that are able to be associated with these source fields; one such association was made
A second catalog of gamma ray bursts: 1978 - 1980 localizations from the interplanetary network
Eighty-two gamma ray bursts were detected between 1978 September 14 and 1980 February 13 by the experiments of the interplanetary network (Prognoz 7, Venera 11 and 12 SIGNE experiments, Pioneer Venus Orbiter, International Sun-Earth Explorer 3, Helios 2, and Vela). Sixty-five of these events have been localized to annuli or error boxes by the method of arrival time analysis. The distribution of sources is consistent with isotropy, and there is no statistically convincing evidence for the detection of more than one burst from any source position. The localizations are compared with those of two previous catalogs
Exciting dark matter in the galactic center
We reconsider the proposal of excited dark matter (DM) as an explanation for
excess 511 keV gamma rays from positrons in the galactic center. We
quantitatively compute the cross section for DM annihilation to nearby excited
states, mediated by exchange of a new light gauge boson with off-diagonal
couplings to the DM states. In models where both excited states must be heavy
enough to decay into e^+ e^- and the ground state, the predicted rate of
positron production is never large enough to agree with observations, unless
one makes extreme assumptions about the local circular velocity in the Milky
Way, or alternatively if there exists a metastable population of DM states
which can be excited through a mass gap of less than 650 keV, before decaying
into electrons and positrons.Comment: Dedicated to the memory of Lev Kofman; 16 pages, 9 figures; v3 added
refs, minor changes, accepted to PR
Can codimension-two branes solve the cosmological constant problem?
It has been suggested that codimension-two braneworlds might naturally
explain the vanishing of the 4D effective cosmological constant, due to the
automatic relation between the deficit angle and the brane tension. To
investigate whether this cancellation happens dynamically, and within the
context of a realistic cosmology, we study a codimension-two braneworld with
spherical extra dimensions compactified by magnetic flux. Assuming Einstein
gravity, we show that when the brane contains matter with an arbitrary equation
of state, the 4D metric components are not regular at the brane, unless the
brane has nonzero thickness. We construct explicit 6D solutions with thick
branes, treating the brane matter as a perturbation, and find that the universe
expands consistently with standard Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmology.
The relation between the brane tension and the bulk deficit angle becomes
for a general equation of state. However, this
relation does not imply a self-tuning of the effective 4D cosmological constant
to zero; perturbations of the brane tension in a static solution lead to
deSitter or anti-deSitter braneworlds. Our results thus confirm other recent
work showing that codimension-two braneworlds in nonsupersymmetric Einstein
gravity do not lead to a dynamical relaxation of the cosmological constant, but
they leave open the possibility that supersymmetric versions can be compatible
with self-tuning.Comment: Revtex4, 17 pages, references added, typos corrected, minor points
clarified. Matches published versio
Limits to the burster repetition rate as deduced from the 2nd catalog of the interplanetary network
The burster repetition rate is an important parameter in many gamma ray burst models. The localizations of the interplanetary network, which have a relatively small combined surface area, may be used to estimate the average repetition rate. The method consists of (1) estimating the number of random overlaps between error boxes expected in the catalog and comparing this number to that actually observed; (2) modeling the response of the detectors in the network, so that the probability of detecting a burst can be estimated; and (3) simulating the arrival of bursts at the network assuming that burster repetition is governed by a Poisson process. The application of this method for many different burster luminosity functions shows that (1) the lower limit to the burster repetition rate depends strongly upon the assumed luminosity function; (2) the best lower limit to the repetition period obtainable from the data of the network is about 100 months; and (3) that a luminosity function for all bursters similar to that of the 1979 Mar 5 burster is inconsistent with the data
Cosmic Parallax in Ellipsoidal Universe
The detection of a time variation of the angle between two distant sources
would reveal an anisotropic expansion of the Universe. We study this effect of
"cosmic parallax" within the "ellipsoidal universe" model, namely a particular
homogeneous anisotropic cosmological model of Bianchi type I, whose attractive
feature is the potentiality to account for the observed lack of power of the
large-scale cosmic microwave background anisotropy. The preferred direction in
the sky, singled out by the axis of symmetry inherent to planar symmetry of
ellipsoidal universe, could in principle be constrained by future cosmic
parallax data. However, that will be a real possibility if and when the
experimental accuracy will be enhanced at least by two orders of magnitude.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Revised version to match published
version. References adde
Transient domain walls and lepton asymmetry in the Left-Right symmetric model
It is shown that the dynamics of domain walls in Left-Right symmetric models,
separating respective regions of unbroken SU(2)_L and SU(2)_R in the early
universe, can give rise to baryogenesis via leptogenesis. Neutrinos have a
spatially varying complex mass matrix due to CP-violating scalar condensates in
the domain wall. The motion of the wall through the plasma generates a flux of
lepton number across the wall which is converted to a lepton asymmetry by
helicity-flipping scatterings. Subsequent processing of the lepton excess by
sphalerons results in the observed baryon asymmetry, for a range of parameters
in Left-Right symmetric models.Comment: v2 version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D. Discussion in
Introduction and Conclusion sharpened. Equation (12) corrected. 16 pages, 3
figure files, RevTeX4 styl
Absence of resonant enhancements in some inclusive rates
A toy model is defined and solved perturbatively with the aim of examining
some claimed "resonant" enhancements of certain reaction rates that enter
popular models of leptogenesis. We find: a) that such enhancements are absent;
and b) that the perturbative solution, as done correctly using finite-
temperature field theory, is well defined without the "resumming" procedures
found in the literature. The pathologies that led to the perceived need for
these procedures are an artifact of uncritical use of weighted vacuum cross-
sections in the determination of rates, without adequate attention to the
effects of the medium upon the single particle states within it.Comment: 11 pages, no figures. Some typos corrected. More typos correcte
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