Renormalization-Group Improved Effective Lagrangian for Interacting Theories in Curved Spacetime

A method for finding the renormalization group (RG) improved effective Lagrangian for a massive interacting field theory in curved spacetime is presented. As a particular example, the $\lambda \varphi^4$-theory is considered and the RG improved effective Lagrangian is explicitly found up to second order in the curvature tensors. As a further application, the curvature-induced phase transitions are discussed for both the massive and the massless versions of the theory. The problems which appear when calculating the RG improved effective Lagrangian for gauge theories are discussed, taking as example the asymptotically free SU(2) gauge model.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX fil

de Sitter Vacua, Renormalization and Locality

We analyze the renormalization properties of quantum field theories in de Sitter space and show that only two of the maximally invariant vacuum states of free fields lead to consistent perturbation expansions. One is the Euclidean vacuum, and the other can be viewed as an analytic continuation of Euclidean functional integrals on $RP^d$. The corresponding Lorentzian manifold is the future half of global de Sitter space with boundary conditions on fields at the origin of time. We argue that the perturbation series in this case has divergences at the origin, which render the future evolution of the system indeterminate without a better understanding of high energy physics.Comment: JHEP Latex, 13 pages, v2. references adde

Insect Immunity: From Systemic to Chemosensory Organs Protection

Insects are confronted to a wide range of infectious microorganisms. Tissues in direct contact with the environment, such as olfactory organs, are particularly exposed to pathogens. We review here the immune mechanisms operating in insects to control infections. Experiments conducted on the model organism Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) have provided genetic evidence that insects rely on both cellular and humoral mechanisms to control infections. Once epithelial barriers have been breached, circulating or membrane-associated innate immunity receptors trigger signaling in the fat body and lead to secretion of high concentrations of antimicrobial peptides active on fungi and bacteria in the hemolymph. This induced response involves the evolutionarily conserved Toll and immune deficiency (IMD) signaling pathways, which promote nuclear translocation of transcription factors of the NF-κB family. In addition, different subsets of differentiated blood cells or hemocytes can neutralize bacteria, fungi or parasites by phagocytosis, production of microbicidal compounds, or encapsulation. An alternative to mount costly immune responses is to sense pathogens through chemosensory cues and avoid them. Interestingly, some families of molecules, including the Toll receptors, participate in both olfaction and immunity.Online ISBN 978-3-030-05165-

Effective Potential for the Conformal Sector of Quantum Gravity with Torsion

The effective potential which describes the conformal dynamics of quantum gravity with torsion is discussed. The phase transitions induced by the combination of torsion and curvature are investigated. The mechanism for fixing the vacuum expectation values of the metric and torsion is presented.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, july 3

Rigid invariance as derived from BRS invariance: The abelian Higgs model

Consequences of a symmetry, e.g.\ relations amongst Green functions, are renormalization scheme independently expressed in terms of a rigid Ward identity. The corresponding local version yields information on the respective current. In the case of spontaneous breakdown one has to define the theory via the BRS invariance and thus to construct rigid and current Ward identity non-trivially in accordance with it. We performed this construction to all orders of perturbation theory in the abelian Higgs model as a prelude to the standard model. A technical tool of interest in itself is the use of a doublet of external scalar ``background'' fields. The Callan-Symanzik equation has an interesting form and follows easily once the rigid invariance is established.Comment: 33 pages, Plain Te

Non-extremal D-instantons

We construct the most general non-extremal deformation of the D-instanton solution with maximal rotational symmetry. The general non-supersymmetric solution carries electric charges of the SL(2,R) symmetry, which correspond to each of the three conjugacy classes of SL(2,R). Our calculations naturally generalise to arbitrary dimensions and arbitrary dilaton couplings. We show that for specific values of the dilaton coupling parameter, the non-extremal instanton solutions can be viewed as wormholes of non-extremal Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes in one higher dimension. We extend this result by showing that for other values of the dilaton coupling parameter, the non-extremal instanton solutions can be uplifted to non-extremal non-dilatonic p-branes in p+1 dimensions higher. Finally, we attempt to consider the solutions as instantons of (compactified) type IIB superstring theory. In particular, we derive an elegant formula for the instanton action. We conjecture that the non-extremal D-instantons can contribute to the R^8-terms in the type IIB string effective action.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures. v3: minor correction and reference adde

Renormalization-group improved effective potential for gauge theories in curved spacetime

The renormalization-group improved effective potential for an arbitrary renormalizable massless gauge theory in curved spacetime is found,thus generalizing Coleman-Weinberg's approach corresponding to flat space.Some explicit examples are considered,among of them:scalar self-interacting theory,scalar electrody namics,the asymptotically-free SU(2) gauge model,and the SU(5) GUT theory. The possibility of curvature-induced phase transitions is analyzed.It is shown that such a phase transition may take place in a SU(5) inflationary universe.The inclusion of quantum gravity effects isbriefly discussed.Comment: Latex file,11page

More on String Breaking in the 3D Abelian Higgs Model: the Photon Propagator

We study the Landau gauge photon propagator in the three--dimensional Abelian Higgs model with compact gauge field and fundamentally charged matter in the London limit. The total gauge field is split into singular and regular parts. On the confinement side of the string breaking crossover the momentum dependence of the total propagator is characterized by an anomalous dimension similarly to 3D compact QED. At the crossover and throughout the Higgs region the anomalous dimension disappears. This result perfectly agrees with recent observations that the monopole--antimonopole plasma leads to nonzero anomalous dimension and the presence of the matter fields causes monopole pairing into dipole bound states. The Yukawa mass characterizing the propagator part from regular gauge fields is non-vanishing at the Higgs side and coincides with the mass found for the total propagator. The regular gauge field without anomalous dimension becomes massless at the crossover and in the confinement region.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, LaTeX2

Nonperturbative Matching for Field Theories with Heavy Fermions

We examine a paradox, suggested by Banks and Dabholkar, concerning nonperturbative effects in an effective field theory which is obtained by integrating out a generation of heavy fermions, where the heavy fermion masses arise from Yukawa couplings. They argue that light fermions in the effective theory appear to decay via instanton processes, whereas their decay is forbidden in the full theory. We resolve this paradox by showing that such processes in fact do not occur in the effective theory, due to matching corrections which cause the relevant light field configurations to have infinite action.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, uses harvmac, Harvard University Preprint HUTP-93/A03

On the Hadronic Contribution to Light-by-light Scattering in gμ−2g_\mu-2

We comment on the theoretical uncertainties involved in estimating the hadronic effects on the light-by-light scattering contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, especially based on the analysis and results of T. Kinoshita, B. Ni\v zi\'c, and Y. Okamoto, Phys.\ Rev.\ D31, 2108 (1985). From the point of view of an effective field theory and chiral perturbation theory, we suggest that the charged pion contribution may be better determined than has been appreciated. However, the neutral pion contribution needs greater theoretical insight before its magnitude can be reliably estimated.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, U. Michigan UM-TH-93-18. (Input phyzzm to compile.) Revised version has minor changes in text. To be published in Phys. Rev. D, Comments sectio