881 research outputs found
Superheavy Dark Matter with Discrete Gauge Symmetries
We show that there are discrete gauge symmetries protect naturally heavy X
particles from decaying into the ordinary light particles in the supersymmetric
standard model. This makes the proposal very attractive that the superheavy X
particles constitute a part of the dark matter in the present universe. It is
more interesting that there are a class of discrete gauge symmetries which
naturally accommodate a long-lived unstable X particle. We find that in some
discrete Z_{10} models, for example, a superheavy X particle has lifetime
\tau_X \simeq 10^{11}-10^{26} years for its mass M_X \simeq 10^{13}-10^{14}
GeV. This long lifetime is guaranteed by the absence of lower dimensional
operators (of light particles) couple to the X. We briefly discuss a possible
explanation for the recently observed ultra-high-energy cosmic ray events by
the decay of this unstable X particle.Comment: 9 pages, Late
Particle Production and Gravitino Abundance after Inflation
Thermal history after inflation is studied in a chaotic inflation model with
supersymmetric couplings of the inflaton to matter fields. Time evolution
equation is solved in a formalism that incorporates both the back reaction of
particle production and the cosmological expansion. The effect of the
parametric resonance gives rise to a rapid initial phase of the inflaton decay
followed by a slow stage of the Born term decay. Thermalization takes place
immediately after the first explosive stage for a medium strength of the
coupling among created particles. As an application we calculate time evolution
of the gravitino abundance that is produced by ordinary particles directly
created from the inflaton decay, which typically results in much more enhanced
yield than what a naive estimate based on the Born term would suggest.Comment: 23 pages + 13 figure
On the reheating stage after inflation
We point out that inflaton decay products acquire plasma masses during the
reheating phase following inflation. The plasma masses may render inflaton
decay kinematicaly forbidden, causing the temperature to remain frozen for a
period at a plateau value. We show that the final reheating temperature may be
uniquely determined by the inflaton mass, and may not depend on its coupling.
Our findings have important implications for the thermal production of
dangerous relics during reheating (e.g., gravitinos), for extracting bounds on
particle physics models of inflation from Cosmic Microwave Background
anisotropy data, for the production of massive dark matter candidates during
reheating, and for models of baryogenesis or leptogensis where massive
particles are produced during reheating.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Submitted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Slepton and Neutralino/Chargino Coannihilations in MSSM
Within the low-energy effective Minimal Supersymmetric extension of Standard
Model (effMSSM) we calculated the neutralino relic density taking into account
slepton-neutralino and neutralino-chargino/neutralino coannihilation channels.
We performed comparative study of these channels and obtained that both of them
give sizable contributions to the reduction of the relic density. Due to these
coannihilation processes some models (mostly with large neutralino masses)
enter into the cosmologically interesting region for relic density, but other
models leave this region. Nevertheless, in general, the predictions for direct
and indirect dark matter detection rates are not strongly affected by these
coannihilation channels in the effMSSM.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, revte
Squark-, Slepton- and Neutralino-Chargino coannihilation effects in the low-energy effective MSSM
Within the low-energy effective Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the
Standard Model (effMSSM) we calculate the neutralino relic density taking into
account slepton-neutralino, squark-neutralino and neutralino/chargino-
neutralino coannihilation channels. By including squark (stop and sbottom)
coannihilation channels we extend our comparative study to all allowed
coannihilations and obtain the general result that all of them give sizable
contributions to the reduction of the neutralino relic density. Due to these
coannihilation processes some models (mostly with large neutralino masses)
enter into the cosmologically interesting region for relic density, but other
models leave this region. Nevertheless, in general, the predictions for direct
and indirect dark matter detection rates are not strongly affected by these
coannihilation channels in the effMSSM.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, corrected and to be published in Phys. Rev.
SuperWIMP Dark Matter Signals from the Early Universe
Cold dark matter may be made of superweakly-interacting massive particles,
superWIMPs, that naturally inherit the desired relic density from late decays
of metastable WIMPs. Well-motivated examples are weak-scale gravitinos in
supergravity and Kaluza-Klein gravitons from extra dimensions. These particles
are impossible to detect in all dark matter experiments. We find, however, that
superWIMP dark matter may be discovered through cosmological signatures from
the early universe. In particular, superWIMP dark matter has observable
consequences for Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background
(CMB), and may explain the observed underabundance of 7Li without upsetting the
concordance between deuterium and CMB baryometers. We discuss implications for
future probes of CMB black body distortions and collider searches for new
particles. In the course of this study, we also present a model-independent
analysis of entropy production from late-decaying particles in light of WMAP
data.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, typos correcte
The Long-Term Future of Extragalactic Astronomy
If the current energy density of the universe is indeed dominated by a
cosmological constant, then high-redshift sources will remain visible to us
only until they reach some finite age in their rest-frame. The radiation
emitted beyond that age will never reach us due to the acceleration of the
cosmic expansion rate, and so we will never know what these sources look like
as they become older. As a source image freezes on a particular time frame
along its evolution, its luminosity distance and redshift continue to increase
exponentially with observation time. The higher the current redshift of a
source is, the younger it will appear as it fades out of sight. For the popular
set of cosmological parameters, I show that a source at a redshift z=5-10 will
only be visible up to an age of 4-6 billion years. Arguments relating the
properties of high-redshift sources to present-day counterparts will remain
indirect even if we continue to monitor these sources for an infinite amount of
time. These sources will not be visible to us when they reach the current age
of the universe.Comment: Phys. Rev. D, in press (2001
Dark energy as a mirage
Motivated by the observed cosmic matter distribution, we present the
following conjecture: due to the formation of voids and opaque structures, the
average matter density on the path of the light from the well-observed objects
changes from Omega_M ~ 1 in the homogeneous early universe to Omega_M ~ 0 in
the clumpy late universe, so that the average expansion rate increases along
our line of sight from EdS expansion Ht ~ 2/3 at high redshifts to free
expansion Ht ~ 1 at low redshifts. To calculate the modified observable
distance-redshift relations, we introduce a generalized Dyer-Roeder method that
allows for two crucial physical properties of the universe: inhomogeneities in
the expansion rate and the growth of the nonlinear structures. By treating the
transition redshift to the void-dominated era as a free parameter, we find a
phenomenological fit to the observations from the CMB anisotropy, the position
of the baryon oscillation peak, the magnitude-redshift relations of type Ia
supernovae, the local Hubble flow and the nucleosynthesis, resulting in a
concordant model of the universe with 90% dark matter, 10% baryons, no dark
energy, 15 Gyr as the age of the universe and a natural value for the
transition redshift z_0=0.35. Unlike a large local void, the model respects the
cosmological principle, further offering an explanation for the late onset of
the perceived acceleration as a consequence of the forming nonlinear
structures. Additional tests, such as quantitative predictions for angular
deviations due to an anisotropic void distribution and a theoretical derivation
of the model, can vindicate or falsify the interpretation that light
propagation in voids is responsible for the perceived acceleration.Comment: 33 pages, 2 figs; v2: minor clarifications, results unchanged; v3:
matches the version published in General Relativity and Gravitatio
Radiative Decay of a Long-Lived Particle and Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis
The effects of radiatively decaying, long-lived particles on big-bang
nucleosynthesis (BBN) are discussed. If high-energy photons are emitted after
BBN, they may change the abundances of the light elements through
photodissociation processes, which may result in a significant discrepancy
between the BBN theory and observation. We calculate the abundances of the
light elements, including the effects of photodissociation induced by a
radiatively decaying particle, but neglecting the hadronic branching ratio.
Using these calculated abundances, we derive a constraint on such particles by
comparing our theoretical results with observations. Taking into account the
recent controversies regarding the observations of the light-element
abundances, we derive constraints for various combinations of the measurements.
We also discuss several models which predict such radiatively decaying
particles, and we derive constraints on such models.Comment: Published version in Phys. Rev. D. Typos in figure captions correcte
Many worlds in one
A generic prediction of inflation is that the thermalized region we inhabit
is spatially infinite. Thus, it contains an infinite number of regions of the
same size as our observable universe, which we shall denote as \O-regions. We
argue that the number of possible histories which may take place inside of an
\O-region, from the time of recombination up to the present time, is finite.
Hence, there are an infinite number of \O-regions with identical histories up
to the present, but which need not be identical in the future. Moreover, all
histories which are not forbidden by conservation laws will occur in a finite
fraction of all \O-regions. The ensemble of \O-regions is reminiscent of
the ensemble of universes in the many-world picture of quantum mechanics. An
important difference, however, is that other \O-regions are unquestionably
real.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, comments and references adde
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