238 research outputs found
Gluonic vacuum, q-theory, and the cosmological constant
In previous work, q-theory was introduced to describe the gravitating
macroscopic behavior of a conserved microscopic variable q. In this article,
the gluon condensate of quantum chromodynamics is considered in terms of
q-theory. The remnant vacuum energy density (i.e., cosmological constant) of an
expanding universe is estimated as K_{QCD}^3 / E_{Planck}^2, with string
tension K_{QCD} \approx (10^2 MeV)^2 and gravitational scale E_{Planck} \approx
10^{19} GeV. The only input for this estimate is general relativity, quantum
chromodynamics, and the Hubble expansion of the present Universe.Comment: 20 pages; v6: published versio
Note on a new fundamental length scale instead of the Newtonian constant
The newly proposed entropic gravity suggests gravity as an emergent force
rather than a fundamental one. In this approach, the Newtonian constant
does not play a fundamental role any more, and a new fundamental constant is
required to replace its position. This request also arises from some
philosophical considerations to contemplate the physical foundations for the
unification of theories. We here consider the suggestion to derive from
more fundamental quantities in the presence of a new fundamental length scale
, which is suspected to originate from the structure of quantum space-time,
and can be measured directly from Lorentz-violating observations. Our results
are relevant to the fundamental understanding of physics, and more practically,
of natural units, as well as explanations of experimental constraints in
searching for Lorentz violation.Comment: 10 latex pages, final version for journal publicatio
Spontaneous Breaking of Lorentz Invariance
We describe how a stable effective theory in which particles of the same
fermion number attract may spontaneously break Lorentz invariance by giving
non-zero fermion number density to the vacuum (and therefore dynamically
generating a chemical potential term). This mecanism yields a finite vacuum
expectation value could relate to work on signals of Lorentz violation
in electrodynamics.Comment: revtex4, 11 pages, 5 figures; v2:references added; v3:more references
added, typos fixed, some points in sect. IV clarified; v4:even more
references added, discussion in sect. V extended; v5:replaced to match
published version (minor corrections of form
as parameter of Minkowski metric in effective theory
With the proper choice of the dimensionality of the metric components, the
action for all fields becomes dimensionless. Such quantities as the vacuum
speed of light c, the Planck constant \hbar, the electric charge e, the
particle mass m, the Newton constant G never enter equations written in the
covariant form, i.e., via the metric g^{\mu\nu}. The speed of light c and the
Planck constant are parameters of a particular two-parametric family of
solutions of general relativity equations describing the flat isotropic
Minkowski vacuum in effective theory emerging at low energy:
g^{\mu\nu}=diag(-\hbar^2, (\hbar c)^2, (\hbar c)^2, (\hbar c)^2). They
parametrize the equilibrium quantum vacuum state. The physical quantities which
enter the covariant equations are dimensionless quantities and dimensionful
quantities of dimension of rest energy M or its power. Dimensionless quantities
include the running coupling `constants' \alpha_i; topological and geometric
quantum numbers (angular momentum quantum number j, weak charge, electric
charge q, hypercharge, baryonic and leptonic charges, number of atoms N, etc).
Dimensionful parameters include the rest energies of particles M_n (or/and mass
matrices); the gravitational coupling K with dimension of M^2; cosmological
constant with dimension M^4; etc. In effective theory, the interval s has the
dimension of 1/M; it characterizes the dynamics of particles in the quantum
vacuum rather than geometry of space-time. We discuss the effective action, and
the measured physical quantities resulting from the action, including
parameters which enter the Josepson effect, quantum Hall effect, etc.Comment: 18 pages, no figures, extended version of the paper accepted in JETP
Letter
Newton's gravitational coupling constant from a quantum of area
A previous calculation of Newton's gravitational coupling constant G is
generalized. This generalization makes it possible to have "atoms of
two-dimensional space" with an integer dimension d_{atom} of the internal
space, where the case d_{atom}=1 is excluded. Given the quantum of area l^2,
the final formula for G is inversely proportional to the logarithm of the
integer d_{atom}. The generalization used may be interpreted as a modification
of the energy equipartition law of the microscopic degrees of freedom
responsible for gravity, suggesting some form of long-range interaction between
these degrees of freedom themselves.Comment: 10 pages; v6: published version, but with typo in Eq. (8) correcte
From Instantons to Sphalerons: Time-Dependent Periodic Solutions of SU(2)-Higgs Theory
We solve numerically for periodic, spherically symmetric, classical solutions
of SU(2)-Higgs theory in four-dimensional Euclidean space. In the limit of
short periods the solutions approach tiny instanton-anti-instanton
superpositions while, for longer periods, the solutions merge with the static
sphaleron. A previously predicted bifurcation point, where two branches of
periodic solutions meet, appears for Higgs boson masses larger than .Comment: 14 pages, RevTeX with eps figure
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