Measurement of Quantum Fluctuations in Geometry

A particular form for the quantum indeterminacy of relative spacetime position of events is derived from the limits of measurement possible with Planck wavelength radiation. The indeterminacy predicts fluctuations from a classically defined geometry in the form of ``holographic noise'' whose spatial character, absolute normalization, and spectrum are predicted with no parameters. The noise has a distinctive transverse spatial shear signature, and a flat power spectral density given by the Planck time. An interferometer signal displays noise due to the uncertainty of relative positions of reflection events. The noise corresponds to an accumulation of phase offset with time that mimics a random walk of those optical elements that change the orientation of a wavefront. It only appears in measurements that compare transverse positions, and does not appear at all in purely radial position measurements. A lower bound on holographic noise follows from a covariant upper bound on gravitational entropy. The predicted holographic noise spectrum is estimated to be comparable to measured noise in the currently operating interferometer GEO600. Because of its transverse character, holographic noise is reduced relative to gravitational wave effects in other interferometer designs, such as LIGO, where beam power is much less in the beamsplitter than in the arms.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX. Extensive rewrite of original version, including more detailed analysis. Main result is the same but the estimate of noise in strain units for GEO600, showing 1/f behavior at low f and flat at high f, is improved. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Virtual QCD corrections to Higgs boson plus four parton processes

We report on the calculation of virtual processes contributing to the production of a Higgs boson and two jets in hadron-hadron collisions. The coupling of the Higgs boson to gluons, via a virtual loop of top quarks, is treated using an effective theory, valid in the large top quark mass limit. The calculation is performed by evaluating one-loop diagrams in the effective theory. The primary method of calculation is a numerical evaluation of the virtual amplitudes as a Laurent series in $D-4$, where $D$ is the dimensionality of space-time. For the cases $H \to q\bar{q}q\bar{q}$ and $H \to q\bar{q}q'\bar{q}'$ we confirm the numerical results by an explicit analytic calculation.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures. v2 modifies the text to agree with published version and corrects typos in the analytical expressions for the four quark amplitude

A cosmic equation of state for the inhomogeneous Universe: can a global far-from-equilibrium state explain Dark Energy?

A system of effective Einstein equations for spatially averaged scalar variables of inhomogeneous cosmological models can be solved by providing a `cosmic equation of state'. Recent efforts to explain Dark Energy focus on `backreaction effects' of inhomogeneities on the effective evolution of cosmological parameters in our Hubble volume, avoiding a cosmological constant in the equation of state. In this Letter it is argued that, if kinematical backreaction effects are indeed of the order of the averaged density (or larger as needed for an accelerating domain of the Universe), then the state of our regional Hubble volume would have to be in the vicinity of a far-from-equilibrium state that balances kinematical backreaction and average density. This property, if interpreted globally, is shared by a stationary cosmos with effective equation of state $p_{\rm eff} = -1/3 \rho_{\rm eff}$. It is concluded that a confirmed explanation of Dark Energy by kinematical backreaction may imply a paradigmatic change of cosmology.Comment: 7 pages, matches published version in Class. Quant. Gra

A Numerical Unitarity Formalism for Evaluating One-Loop Amplitudes

Recent progress in unitarity techniques for one-loop scattering amplitudes makes a numerical implementation of this method possible. We present a 4-dimensional unitarity method for calculating the cut-constructible part of amplitudes and implement the method in a numerical procedure. Our technique can be applied to any one-loop scattering amplitude and offers the possibility that one-loop calculations can be performed in an automatic fashion, as tree-level amplitudes are currently done. Instead of individual Feynman diagrams, the ingredients for our one-loop evaluation are tree-level amplitudes, which are often already known. To study the practicality of this method we evaluate the cut-constructible part of the 4, 5 and 6 gluon one-loop amplitudes numerically, using the analytically known 4, 5 and 6 gluon tree-level amplitudes. Comparisons with analytic answers are performed to ascertain the numerical accuracy of the method.Comment: 29 pages with 8 figures; references updated in rsponse to readers' suggestion

Full one-loop amplitudes from tree amplitudes

We establish an efficient polynomial-complexity algorithm for one-loop calculations, based on generalized $D$-dimensional unitarity. It allows automated computations of both cut-constructible {\it and} rational parts of one-loop scattering amplitudes from on-shell tree amplitudes. We illustrate the method by (re)-computing all four-, five- and six-gluon scattering amplitudes in QCD at one-loop.Comment: 27 pages, revte

Note on Signature Change and Colombeau Theory

Recent work alludes to various `controversies' associated with signature change in general relativity. As we have argued previously, these are in fact disagreements about the (often unstated) assumptions underlying various possible approaches. The choice between approaches remains open.Comment: REVTex, 3 pages; to appear in GR

Prospects for Discovering Supersymmetry at the LHC

Supersymmetry is one of the best-motivated candidates for physics beyond the Standard Model that might be discovered at the LHC. There are many reasons to expect that it may appear at the TeV scale, in particular because it provides a natural cold dark matter candidate. The apparent discrepancy between the experimental measurement of g_mu - 2 and the Standard model value calculated using low-energy e+ e- data favours relatively light sparticles accessible to the LHC. A global likelihood analysis including this, other electroweak precision observables and B-decay observables suggests that the LHC might be able to discover supersymmetry with 1/fb or less of integrated luminosity. The LHC should be able to discover supersymmetry via the classic missing-energy signature, or in alternative phenomenological scenarios. The prospects for discovering supersymmetry at the LHC look very good.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure

A Two-Tiered Correlation of Dark Matter with Missing Transverse Energy: Reconstructing the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle Mass at the LHC

We suggest that non-trivial correlations between the dark matter particle mass and collider based probes of missing transverse energy H_T^miss may facilitate a two tiered approach to the initial discovery of supersymmetry and the subsequent reconstruction of the LSP mass at the LHC. These correlations are demonstrated via extensive Monte Carlo simulation of seventeen benchmark models, each sampled at five distinct LHC center-of-mass beam energies, spanning the parameter space of No-Scale F-SU(5).This construction is defined in turn by the union of the Flipped SU(5) Grand Unified Theory, two pairs of hypothetical TeV scale vector-like supersymmetric multiplets with origins in F-theory, and the dynamically established boundary conditions of No-Scale Supergravity. In addition, we consider a control sample comprised of a standard minimal Supergravity benchmark point. Led by a striking similarity between the H_T^miss distribution and the familiar power spectrum of a black body radiator at various temperatures, we implement a broad empirical fit of our simulation against a Poisson distribution ansatz. We advance the resulting fit as a theoretical blueprint for deducing the mass of the LSP, utilizing only the missing transverse energy in a statistical sampling of >= 9 jet events. Cumulative uncertainties central to the method subsist at a satisfactory 12-15% level. The fact that supersymmetric particle spectrum of No-Scale F-SU(5) has thrived the withering onslaught of early LHC data that is steadily decimating the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and minimal Supergravity parameter spaces is a prime motivation for augmenting more conventional LSP search methodologies with the presently proposed alternative.Comment: JHEP version, 17 pages, 9 Figures, 2 Table

Dynamics of Inflationary Universes with Positive Spatial Curvature

If the spatial curvature of the universe is positive, then the curvature term will always dominate at early enough times in a slow-rolling inflationary epoch. This enhances inflationary effects and hence puts limits on the possible number of e-foldings that can have occurred, independently of what happened before inflation began and in particular without regard for what may have happened in the Planck era. We use a simple multi-stage model to examine this limit as a function of the present density parameter $\Omega_0$ and the epoch when inflation ends.Comment: 9 Pages RevTex4. Revised and update