Self-tuning of cosmological constant and exit from inflation

I review the recent 5D self-tuning solutions of the cosmological constant problem, and try to unify two cosmological constant problems within the framework of the self-tuning solutions. One problem, the large cosmological constant needed for inflation, is interpreted by starting with the parameters allowing only the dS vacuum, and the vanishing cosmological constant at a true vacuum is realized by changing parameters by exit from inflation at the brane such that the self-tuning solution is allowed.Comment: Latex file of 8 pages, including 2 figures. Talk presented at COSPA-03, Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 13-15, 200

Non-Abelian statistics in the interference noise of the Moore-Read quantum Hall state

We propose noise oscillation measurements in a double point contact, accessible with current technology, to seek for a signature of the non-abelian nature of the \nu=5/2 quantum Hall state. Calculating the voltage and temperature dependence of the current and noise oscillations, we predict the non-abelian nature to materialize through a multiplicity of the possible outcomes: two qualitatively different frequency dependences of the nonzero interference noise. Comparison between our predictions for the Moore-Read state with experiments on \nu=5/2 will serve as a much needed test for the nature of the \nu=5/2 quantum Hall state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures v2: typo's corrected, discussions clarified, references adde

R-parity from string compactification

In this paper, we embed the $\Z_{4R}$ parity as a discrete subgroup of a global symmetry \UoR\,obtained from $\Z_{12-I}$ compactification of heterotic string \EE8. A part of \UoR\,transformation is the shift of the anticommuting variable $\vartheta$ to $e^{i\alpha}\vartheta$ which necessarily incoorporate the transformation of internal space coordinate. Out of six internal spaces, we identify three U(1)'s whose charges are denoted as $Q_{18},Q_{20}$, and $Q_{22}$. The \UoR~is defined as \UEE$\times$\UKK~where \UEE~is the part from \EE8 and \UKK~is the part generated by $Q_{18},Q_{20}$, and $Q_{22}$. We propose a method to define a \UoR~direction. The needed vacuum expectation values for breaking gauge U(1)'s except U(1)$_Y$ of the standard model carry \UoR~charge 4 modulo 4 such that \UoR~is broken down to $\Z_{4R}$ at the grand unification scale. $\Z_{4R}$ is broken to $\Z_{2R}$ between the intermediate (\sim 10^{11\,}\gev) and the electroweak scales (100\,\gev\sim 1\,\tev). The conditions we impose are proton longevity, a large top quark mass, and acceptable magnitudes for the $\mu$ term and neutrino masses.Comment: 21 pages with 3 figure

Is an axizilla possible for di-photon resonance?

Heavy axion-like particles, called axizillas, are simple extensions of the standard model(SM). An axizilla is required not to couple to the quarks, leptons, and Brout-Englert-Higgs doublets of the SM, but couple to the gauge anomalies of the $W^\pm, Z$ and photon. It is possible to have its branching ratios(BRs) to two photons greater than 10% and to two $Z$'s less than 10%. To have a (production cross section)$\cdot$(BR to di-photons) at a $10^{-38}\,\textrm{cm}^2$ level, a TeV scale heavy quark $Q$ is required for the gluon--quark fusion process. The decay of $Q$ to axizilla plus quark, and the subsequent decay of the axizilla to two photons can be fitted at the required level of $10^{-38}\,\textrm{cm}^2$.Comment: 9 pages of latex file with 3 figure

Brane gravity, massless bulk scalar and self-tuning of the cosmological constant

We show that a self-tuning mechanism of the cosmological constant could work in 5D non-compact space-time with a $Z_2$ symmetry in the presence of a massless scalar field. The standard model matter fields live only on the 4D brane. The change of vacuum energy on the brane (brane cosmological constant) by, for instance, electroweak and QCD phase transitions, just gives rise to dynamical shifts of the profiles of the background metric and the scalar field in the extra dimension, keeping 4D space-time flat without any fine-tuning. To avoid naked singularities in the bulk, the brane cosmological constant should be negative. We introduce an additional brane-localized 4D Einstein-Hilbert term so as to provide the observed 4D gravity with the non-compact extra dimension. With a general form of brane-localized gravity term allowed by the symmetries, the low energy Einstein gravity is successfully reproduced on the brane at long distances. We show this phenomenon explicitly for the case of vanishing bulk cosmological constant.Comment: 1+15 pages, no figure, Version to appear in PR

QCD Axion and Dark Energy

String allowed discrete symmetry is the mother of acceptable effective global symmetries at low energy. With this philosophy, we discuss dark energy, QCD axion, and inflation, and speculate some implications of the recent BICEP2 data.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Talk presented at PATRAS 2014, CERN, 30 June 201