Origins of Mass

Newtonian mechanics posited mass as a primary quality of matter, incapable of further elucidation. We now see Newtonian mass as an emergent property. Most of the mass of standard matter, by far, arises dynamically, from back-reaction of the color gluon fields of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The equations for massless particles support extra symmetries - specifically scale, chiral, and gauge symmetries. The consistency of the standard model relies on a high degree of underlying gauge and chiral symmetry, so the observed non-zero masses of many elementary particles ($W$ and $Z$ bosons, quarks, and leptons) requires spontaneous symmetry breaking. Superconductivity is a prototype for spontaneous symmetry breaking and for mass-generation, since photons acquire mass inside superconductors. A conceptually similar but more intricate form of all-pervasive (i.e. cosmic) superconductivity, in the context of the electroweak standard model, gives us a successful, economical account of $W$ and $Z$ boson masses. It also allows a phenomenologically successful, though profligate, accommodation of quark and lepton masses. The new cosmic superconductivity, when implemented in a straightforward, minimal way, suggests the existence of a remarkable new particle, the so-called Higgs particle. The mass of the Higgs particle itself is not explained in the theory, but appears as a free parameter. Earlier results suggested, and recent observations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) may indicate, the actual existence of the Higgs particle, with mass $m_H \approx 125$ GeV. In addition to consolidating our understanding of the origin of mass, a Higgs particle with $m_H \approx 125$ GeV could provide an important clue to the future, as it is consistent with expectations from supersymmetry.Comment: Invited review for the Central European Journal of Physics. This is the supplement to my 2011 Solvay Conference talk promised there. It is adapted from an invited talk given at the Atlanta APS meeting, April 2012. 33 pages, 6 figures. v2: Added update section bringing in the CERN discovery announcemen

Can Sigma Models Describe Finite Temperature Chiral Transitions?

Large-N expansions and computer simulations indicate that the universality class of the finite temperature chiral symmetry restoration transition in the 3D Gross-Neveu model is mean field theory. This is a counterexample to the standard 'sigma model' scenario which predicts the 2D Ising model universality class. We trace the breakdown of the standard scenario (dimensional reduction and universality) to the absence of canonical scalar fields in the model. We point out that our results could be generic for theories with dynamical symmetry breaking, such as Quantum Chromodynamics.Comment: 9 pages, 2 ps figure

Regge Trajectories for Mesons in the Holographic Dual of Large-N_c QCD

We discuss Regge trajectories of dynamical mesons in large-N_c QCD, using the supergravity background describing N_c D4-branes compactified on a thermal circle. The flavor degrees of freedom arise from the addition of N_f<<N_c D6 probe branes. Our work provides a string theoretical derivation, via the gauge/string correspondence, of a phenomenological model describing the meson as rotating point-like massive particles connected by a flux string. The massive endpoints induce nonlinearities for the Regge trajectory. For light quarks the Regge trajectories of mesons are essentially linear. For massive quarks our trajectories qualitatively capture the nonlinearity detected in lattice calculations.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures. v2: typos corrected, references and acknowledgments adde

Review of Speculative "Disaster Scenarios" at RHIC

We discuss speculative disaster scenarios inspired by hypothetical new fundamental processes that might occur in high energy relativistic heavy ion collisions. We estimate the parameters relevant to black hole production; we find that they are absurdly small. We show that other accelerator and (especially) cosmic ray environments have already provided far more auspicious opportunities for transition to a new vacuum state, so that existing observations provide stringent bounds. We discuss in most detail the possibility of producing a dangerous strangelet. We argue that four separate requirements are necessary for this to occur: existence of large stable strangelets, metastability of intermediate size strangelets, negative charge for strangelets along the stability line, and production of intermediate size strangelets in the heavy ion environment. We discuss both theoretical and experimental reasons why each of these appears unlikely; in particular, we know of no plausible suggestion for why the third or especially the fourth might be true. Given minimal physical assumptions the continued existence of the Moon, in the form we know it, despite billions of years of cosmic ray exposure, provides powerful empirical evidence against the possibility of dangerous strangelet production.Comment: 28 pages, REVTeX; minor revisions for publication (Reviews of Modern Physics, ca. Oct. 2000); email to [email protected]

History of exotic Meson (4-quark) and Baryon (5-quark) States

I briefly review the history of exotic meson (4-quark) and baryon (5-quark) states, which is rooted in the formalism of Regge pole and duality. There are robust model-independent predictions for the exchange of 4-quark (Baryonium) Regge trajectories in several processes, which are strongly supported by experiment. On the other hand the predictions for the spectroscopy of 4-quark resonances are based on specific QCD inspired models, with some experimental support. The corresponding predictions for the recently discovered exotic baryon (Pentaquark) state are briefly discussed.Comment: 14 pages Latex including 4 eps figures, final version to appear as a topical review in J. Phys.

Proof of the Julia-Zee Theorem

It is a well accepted principle that finite-energy static solutions in the classical relativistic gauge field theory over the $(2+1)$-dimensional Minkowski spacetime must be electrically neutral. We call such a statement the Julia--Zee theorem. In this paper, we present a mathematical proof of this fundamental structural property

Comments on Diquarks, Strong Binding and a Large Hidden QCD Scale

We present arguments regarding diquarks possible role in low-energy hadron phenomenology that escaped theorists' attention so far. Good diquarks, i.e. the $0^{+}$ states of two quarks, are argued to have a two-component structure with one of the components peaking at distances several times shorter than a typical hadron size (a short-range core). This can play a role in solving two old puzzles of the 't Hooft 1/N expansion: strong quark mass dependence of the vacuum energy density and strong violations of the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule in the quark-antiquark $0^\pm$ channels. In both cases empiric data defy 't Hooft's 1/N suppression. If good diquarks play a role at an intermediate energy scale they ruin 't Hoofts planarity because of their mixed-flavor composition. This new scale associated with the good diquarks may be related to a numerically large scale discovered in [V. Novikov, M. Shifman, A. Vainshtein and V. Zakharov, Nucl. Phys. B 191, 301 (1981)] in a number of phenomena mostly related to vacuum quantum numbers and $0^\pm$ glueball channels. If SU(3)$_{\rm color}$ of bona fide QCD is replaced by SU(2)$_{\rm color}$, diquarks become well-defined gauge invariant objects. Moreover, there is an exact symmetry relating them to pions. In this limit predictions regarding good diquarks are iron-clad. If passage from SU(2)$_{\rm color}$ to SU(3)$_{\rm color}$ does not lead to dramatic disturbances, these predictions remain qualitatively valid in bona fide QCD.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures; journal version, minor change

Dimming Supernovae without Cosmic Acceleration

We present a simple model where photons propagating in extra-galactic magnetic fields can oscillate into very light axions. The oscillations may convert some of the photons departing a distant supernova into axions, making the supernova appear dimmer and hence more distant than it really is. Averaging over different configurations of the magnetic field we find that the dimming saturates at about 1/3 of the light from the supernovae at very large redshifts. This results in a luminosity-distance vs. redshift curve almost indistinguishable from that produced by the accelerating Universe, if the axion mass and coupling scale are m ~ 10^-16 eV, M ~ 4 10^11 GeV. This phenomenon may be an alternative to the accelerating Universe for explaining supernova observations.Comment: 11 pages, LaTex, 2 figures included. Comments on effects of refraction within galaxies and references adde

Spectra of Free Diquark in the Bethe-Salpeter Approach

In this work, we employ the Bethe-Salpeter (B-S) equation to investigate the spectra of free diquarks and their B-S wave functions. We find that the B-S approach can be consistently applied to study the diqaurks with two heavy quarks or one heavy and one light quarks, but for two light-quark systems, the results are not reliable. There are a few free parameters in the whole scenario which can only be fixed phenomenologically. Thus, to determine them, one has to study baryons which are composed of quarks and diquarks.Comment: 16 pages, no figure

Search for the Familon via B±→π±X0B^{\pm}\to \pi^{\pm}X^{0}, B±→K±X0B^{\pm}\to K^{\pm}X^{0}, and B0→KS0X0B^{0}\to K_{S}^{0} X^{0} Decays

We have searched for the two-body decay of the B meson to a light pseudoscalar meson $h = \pi^+, K^+, K^0_S$ and a massless neutral weakly-interacting particle $X^0$ such as the familon, the Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with a spontaneously broken global family symmetry. We find no significant signal by analyzing a data sample containing 9.7 million $B\bar{B}$ mesons collected with the CLEO detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, and set a 90% C.L. upper limit of $4.9 \times 10^{-5}$ and $5.3 \times 10^{-5}$ on the branching fraction for the decays $B^+ \to h^+ X^0$ and $B^0 \to K^0_S X^0$, respectively. These upper limits correspond to a lower bound of about $10^{8}$ GeV on the family symmetry breaking scale involving the third generation of quarks.Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN