1,130 research outputs found
Cosmological Models with Shear and Rotation
Cosmological models involving shear and rotation are considered, first in the
General Relat ivistic and then in the Newtonian framework with the aim of
investigating singularities in them by using numerical and analytical
techniques. The dynamics of these rotating models ar e studied. It is shown
that singularities are unavoidable in such models and that the centr ifugal
force arising due to rotation can never overcome the gravitational and shearing
forc e over a length of time.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures Journal Ref: J. Astrophys. Astr. (1999) 20, 79-8
Supersymmetric Dark Matter and the Reheating Temperature of the Universe
Since the thermal history of the Universe is unknown before the epoch of
primordial nucleosynthesis, the largest temperature of the radiation dominated
phase (the reheating temperature) might have been as low as 1 MeV. We perform a
quantitative study of supersymmetric dark matter relic abundance in
cosmological scenarios with low reheating temperature. We show that, for values
of the reheating temperature smaller than about 30 GeV, the domains of the
supergravity parameter space which are compatible with the hypothesis that dark
matter is composed by neutralinos are largely enhanced. We also find a lower
bound on the reheating temperature: if the latter is smaller than about 1 GeV
neutralinos cannot be efficiently produced in the early Universe and then they
are not able to explain the present amount of dark matter.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, typeset with ReVTeX4. The paper may also be
found at http://www.to.infn.it/~fornengo/papers/reheating.ps.g
On perfect fluid models in non-comoving observational spherical coordinates
We use null spherical (observational) coordinates to describe a class of
inhomogeneous cosmological models. The proposed cosmological construction is
based on the observer past null cone. A known difficulty in using inhomogeneous
models is that the null geodesic equation is not integrable in general. Our
choice of null coordinates solves the radial ingoing null geodesic by
construction. Furthermore, we use an approach where the velocity field is
uniquely calculated from the metric rather than put in by hand. Conveniently,
this allows us to explore models in a non-comoving frame of reference. In this
frame, we find that the velocity field has shear, acceleration and expansion
rate in general. We show that a comoving frame is not compatible with expanding
perfect fluid models in the coordinates proposed and dust models are simply not
possible. We describe the models in a non-comoving frame. We use the dust
models in a non-comoving frame to outline a fitting procedure.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure. To appear in Phys.Rev.
Does brane cosmology have realistic principles?
The maximal symmetry, or Perfect Cosmological Principle(PCP), that prevents
AdS type spaces from degenerating into anti-inflationary collapse is argued to
be unphysical. For example, the simple requirement that brane-bulk models
should be the result of having evolved from even more energetic string
phenomena picks out a preferred time direction.
We question whether quantum cosmological reasoning can be applied in any
meaningful way to obtain, what are essentially, classical constructs . An
alternative scheme is to more readily accept the PCP and allow the branes to
also become eternal. A perpetually expanding and contracting brane model could
be driven by the presence of charged black holes in the AdS bulk, that
effectively violates the weak-energy condition as singularities are approached.
This can be contrasted with the so-called Ekpyrotic universe which also closely
accepts the PCP. This being broken only by occasional collisions between
branes, that can then simulate a big bang cosmology.Comment: extended version and title chang
The see-saw mechanism: neutrino mixing, leptogenesis and lepton flavor violation
The see-saw mechanism to generate small neutrino masses is reviewed. After
summarizing our current knowledge about the low energy neutrino mass matrix we
consider reconstructing the see-saw mechanism. Low energy neutrino physics is
not sufficient to reconstruct see-saw, a feature which we refer to as ``see-saw
degeneracy''. Indirect tests of see-saw are leptogenesis and lepton flavor
violation in supersymmetric scenarios, which together with neutrino mass and
mixing define the framework of see-saw phenomenology. Several examples are
given, both phenomenological and GUT-related. Variants of the see-saw mechanism
like the type II or triplet see-saw are also discussed. In particular, we
compare many general aspects regarding the dependence of LFV on low energy
neutrino parameters in the extreme cases of a dominating conventional see-saw
term or a dominating triplet term. For instance, the absence of mu -> e gamma
or tau -> e gamma in the pure triplet case means that CP is conserved in
neutrino oscillations. Scanning models, we also find that among the decays mu
-> e gamma, tau -> e gamma and tau -> mu gamma the latter one has the largest
branching ratio in (i) SO(10) type I see-saw models and in (ii) scenarios in
which the triplet term dominates in the neutrino mass matrix.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures. Expanded version of talk given at 10th Workshop
In High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP 10), January 2008, Chennai,
India. Typos corrected, comments and references adde
Flavor Alignment in SUSY GUTs
A Supersymmetric Grand unified model is constructed based on SO(10)xSO(10)
symmetry in which new types of Yukawa matrices couple standard and exotic
fermions. Evolution of these couplings from the Grand Unified scale to the
electroweak scale causes some of them to be driven to their fixed points. This
solves the supersymmetric alignment problem and ensures that there are no
observable flavor changing neutral currents mediated by supersymmetric
particles. Fermion hierarchy and neutrino mixing constraints are automatically
satisfied in this formalism.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur
Neutrino Oscillations in Supersymmetry without Lepton number conservation and R-parity
With the on-shell renormalization scheme, we discuss neutrino masses up to
one-loop approximation in the Supersymmetry without lepton number conservation
and R-parity. Ii is shown that in this model with experimentally allowed
parameters, and the mixing angles
which are consistent with the present
observation values can be produced. We find that small neutrino mass ( 1
eV) sets a loose constraint on the R-parity violation parameters in the soft
breaking terms.Comment: 22 pages, plus one ps figure, accepted for publication in PR
Flavour-Dependent and Basis Independent Measures of R Violation
We construct lepton flavour-dependent and basis-independent measures of
R-parity violation in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard
Model (MSSM). We work in the context of exact supersymmetry, neglecting the
effects of Higgs vacuum expectation values and soft supersymmetry-breaking
terms. We devote particular attention to appropriate choices of flavour
eigenstates, and to the counting and enumeration of R-violating invariants in
two- and three-generation models. We also make an indicative application of our
results to derive possible basis-independent cosmological upper bounds on
flavour-dependent violation of R parity.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, requires axodraw.st
Minimal Scenarios for Leptogenesis and CP Violation
The relation between leptogenesis and CP violation at low energies is
analyzed in detail in the framework of the minimal seesaw mechanism. Working,
without loss of generality, in a weak basis where both the charged lepton and
the right-handed Majorana mass matrices are diagonal and real, we consider a
convenient generic parametrization of the Dirac neutrino Yukawa coupling matrix
and identify the necessary condition which has to be satisfied in order to
establish a direct link between leptogenesis and CP violation at low energies.
In the context of the LMA solution of the solar neutrino problem, we present
minimal scenarios which allow for the full determination of the cosmological
baryon asymmetry and the strength of CP violation in neutrino oscillations.
Some specific realizations of these minimal scenarios are considered. The
question of the relative sign between the baryon asymmetry and CP violation at
low energies is also discussed.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figures; minor corrections and references updated. Final
version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Leptogenesis and rescattering in supersymmetric models
The observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe can be due to the
violating decay of heavy right handed (s)neutrinos. The amount of the asymmetry
depends crucially on their number density. If the (s)neutrinos are generated
thermally, in supersymmetric models there is limited parameter space leading to
enough baryons. For this reason, several alternative mechanisms have been
proposed. We discuss the nonperturbative production of sneutrino quanta by a
direct coupling to the inflaton. This production dominates over the
corresponding creation of neutrinos, and it can easily (i.e. even for a rather
small inflaton-sneutrino coupling) lead to a sufficient baryon asymmetry. We
then study the amplification of MSSM degrees of freedom, via their coupling to
the sneutrinos, during the rescattering phase which follows the nonperturbative
production. This process, which mainly influences the (MSSM) flat
directions, is very efficient as long as the sneutrinos quanta are in the
relativistic regime. The rapid amplification of the light degrees of freedom
may potentially lead to a gravitino problem. We estimate the gravitino
production by means of a perturbative calculation, discussing the regime in
which we expect it to be reliable.Comment: (20 pages, 6 figures), references added, typos corrected. Final
version in revte
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