618 research outputs found
Is Our Universe Natural?
It goes without saying that we are stuck with the universe we have.
Nevertheless, we would like to go beyond simply describing our observed
universe, and try to understand why it is that way rather than some other way.
Physicists and cosmologists have been exploring increasingly ambitious ideas
that attempt to explain why certain features of our universe aren't as
surprising as they might first appear.Comment: Invited review for Nature, 11 page
Hierarchies of Susy Splittings and Invisible Photinos as Dark Matter
We explore how to generate hierarchies in the splittings between
superpartners. Some of the consequences are the existence of invisible
components of dark matter, new inflaton candidates, invisible monopoles and a
number of invisible particles that might dominate during various eras, in
particular between BBN and recombination and decay subsequently.Comment: 16 pages. v3: Ref. 27 has been modified. v4: Published versio
The CMB and the measure of the multiverse
In the context of eternal inflation, cosmological predictions depend on the
choice of measure to regulate the diverging spacetime volume. The spectrum of
inflationary perturbations is no exception, as we demonstrate by comparing the
predictions of the fat geodesic and causal patch measures. To highlight the
effect of the measure---as opposed to any effects related to a possible
landscape of vacua---we take the cosmological model, including the model of
inflation, to be fixed. We also condition on the average CMB temperature
accompanying the measurement. Both measures predict a 1-point expectation value
for the gauge-invariant Newtonian potential, which takes the form of a
(scale-dependent) monopole, in addition to a related contribution to the
3-point correlation function, with the detailed form of these quantities
differing between the measures. However, for both measures both effects are
well within cosmic variance. Our results make clear the theoretical relevance
of the measure, and at the same time validate the standard inflationary
predictions in the context of eternal inflation.Comment: 28 pages; v2: reference added, some clarification
Universality of the Volume Bound in Slow-Roll Eternal Inflation
It has recently been shown that in single field slow-roll inflation the total
volume cannot grow by a factor larger than e^(S_dS/2) without becoming
infinite. The bound is saturated exactly at the phase transition to eternal
inflation where the probability to produce infinite volume becomes non zero. We
show that the bound holds sharply also in any space-time dimensions, when
arbitrary higher-dimensional operators are included and in the multi-field
inflationary case. The relation with the entropy of de Sitter and the
universality of the bound strengthen the case for a deeper holographic
interpretation. As a spin-off we provide the formalism to compute the
probability distribution of the volume after inflation for generic multi-field
models, which might help to address questions about the population of vacua of
the landscape during slow-roll inflation.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure
Fluids in cosmology
We review the role of fluids in cosmology by first introducing them in
General Relativity and then by applying them to a FRW Universe's model. We
describe how relativistic and non-relativistic components evolve in the
background dynamics. We also introduce scalar fields to show that they are able
to yield an inflationary dynamics at very early times (inflation) and late
times (quintessence). Then, we proceed to study the thermodynamical properties
of the fluids and, lastly, its perturbed kinematics. We make emphasis in the
constrictions of parameters by recent cosmological probes.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures, version accepted as invited review to the book
"Computational and Experimental Fluid Mechanics with Applications to Physics,
Engineering and the Environment". Version 2: typos corrected and references
expande
String theoretic QCD axions in the light of PLANCK and BICEP2
The QCD axion solving the strong CP problem may originate from antisymmetric
tensor gauge fields in compactified string theory, with a decay constant around
the GUT scale. Such possibility appears to be ruled out now by the detection of
tensor modes by BICEP2 and the PLANCK constraints on isocurvature density
perturbations. A more interesting and still viable possibility is that the
string theoretic QCD axion is charged under an anomalous U(1)_A gauge symmetry.
In such case, the axion decay constant can be much lower than the GUT scale if
moduli are stabilized near the point of vanishing Fayet-Illiopoulos term, and
U(1)_A-charged matter fields get a vacuum value far below the GUT scale due to
a tachyonic SUSY breaking scalar mass. We examine the symmetry breaking pattern
of such models during the inflationary epoch with the Hubble expansion rate
10^{14} GeV, and identify the range of the QCD axion decay constant, as well as
the corresponding relic axion abundance, consistent with known cosmological
constraints. In addition to the case that the PQ symmetry is restored during
inflation, there are other viable scenarios, including that the PQ symmetry is
broken during inflation at high scales around 10^{16}-10^{17} GeV due to a
large Hubble-induced tachyonic scalar mass from the U(1)_A D-term, while the
present axion scale is in the range 10^{9}-5\times 10^{13} GeV, where the
present value larger than 10^{12} GeV requires a fine-tuning of the axion
misalignment angle. We also discuss the implications of our results for the
size of SUSY breaking soft masses.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figure; v3: analysis updated including the full
anharmonic effects, references added, version accepted for publication in
JHE
The establishment of the Standard Cosmological Model through observations
Over the last decades, observations with increasing quality have
revolutionized our understanding of the general properties of the Universe.
Questions posed for millenia by mankind about the origin, evolution and
structure of the cosmos have found an answer. This has been possible mainly
thanks to observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, of the large-scale
distribution of matter structure in the local Universe, and of type Ia
supernovae that have revealed the accelerated expansion of the Universe. All
these observations have successfully converged into the so-called "concordance
model". In spite of all these observational successes, there are still some
important open problems, the most obvious of which are what generated the
initial matter inhomogeneities that led to the structure observable in today's
Universe, and what is the nature of dark matter, and of the dark energy that
drives the accelerated expansion. In this chapter I will expand on the previous
aspects. I will present a general description of the Standard Cosmological
Model of the Universe, with special emphasis on the most recent observations
that have us allowed to consolidate this model. I will also discuss the
shortfalls of this model, its most pressing open questions, and will briefly
describe the observational programmes that are being planned to tackle these
issues.Comment: Accepted for publication in the book "Reviews in Frontiers of Modern
Astrophysics: From Space Debris to Cosmology" (eds Kabath, Jones and Skarka;
publisher Springer Nature) funded by the European Union Erasmus+ Strategic
Partnership grant "Per Aspera Ad Astra Simul" 2017-1-CZ01-KA203-03556
Dynamical Mean-Field Theory within an Augmented Plane-Wave Framework: Assessing Electronic Correlations in the Iron Pnictide LaFeAsO
We present an approach that combines the local density approximation (LDA)
and the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) in the framework of the
full-potential linear augmented plane waves (FLAPW) method. Wannier-like
functions for the correlated shell are constructed by projecting local orbitals
onto a set of Bloch eigenstates located within a certain energy window. The
screened Coulomb interaction and Hund's coupling are calculated from a
first-principle constrained RPA scheme. We apply this LDA+DMFT implementation,
in conjunction with continuous-time quantum Monte-Carlo, to study the
electronic correlations in LaFeAsO. Our findings support the physical picture
of a metal with intermediate correlations. The average value of the mass
renormalization of the Fe 3d bands is about 1.6, in reasonable agreement with
the picture inferred from photoemission experiments. The discrepancies between
different LDA+DMFT calculations (all technically correct) which have been
reported in the literature are shown to have two causes: i) the specific value
of the interaction parameters used in these calculations and ii) the degree of
localization of the Wannier orbitals chosen to represent the Fe 3d states, to
which many-body terms are applied. The latter is a fundamental issue in the
application of many-body calculations, such as DMFT, in a realistic setting. We
provide strong evidence that the DMFT approximation is more accurate and more
straightforward to implement when well-localized orbitals are constructed from
a large energy window encompassing Fe-3d, As-4p and O-2p, and point out several
difficulties associated with the use of extended Wannier functions associated
with the low-energy iron bands. Some of these issues have important physical
consequences, regarding in particular the sensitivity to the Hund's coupling.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, published versio
Combining Anomaly and Z' Mediation of Supersymmetry Breaking
We propose a scenario in which the supersymmetry breaking effect mediated by
an additional U(1)' is comparable with that of anomaly mediation. We argue that
such a scenario can be naturally realized in a large class of models. Combining
anomaly with Z' mediation allows us to solve the tachyonic slepton problem of
the former and avoid significant fine tuning in the latter. We focus on an
NMSSM-like scenario where U(1)' gauge invariance is used to forbid a tree-level
mu term, and present concrete models, which admit successful dynamical
electroweak symmetry breaking. Gaugino masses are somewhat lighter than the
scalar masses, and the third generation squarks are lighter than the first two.
In the specific class of models under consideration, the gluino is light since
it only receives a contribution from 2-loop anomaly mediation, and it decays
dominantly into third generation quarks. Gluino production leads to distinct
LHC signals and prospects of early discovery. In addition, there is a
relatively light Z', with mass in the range of several TeV. Discovering and
studying its properties can reveal important clues about the underlying model.Comment: Minor changes: references added, typos corrected, journal versio
Can induced gravity isotropize Bianchi I, V, or IX Universes?
We analyze if Bianchi I, V, and IX models in the Induced Gravity (IG) theory
can evolve to a Friedmann--Roberson--Walker (FRW) expansion due to the
non--minimal coupling of gravity and the scalar field. The analytical results
that we found for the Brans-Dicke (BD) theory are now applied to the IG theory
which has ( being the square ratio of the Higgs to
Planck mass) in a cosmological era in which the IG--potential is not
significant. We find that the isotropization mechanism crucially depends on the
value of . Its smallness also permits inflationary solutions. For the
Bianch V model inflation due to the Higgs potential takes place afterwads, and
subsequently the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) ends with an effective FRW
evolution. The ordinary tests of successful cosmology are well satisfied.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. D1
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