Higgs Mechanism for Gravitons

Just like the vector gauge bosons in the gauge theories, it is now known that gravitons acquire mass in the process of spontaneous symmetry breaking of diffeomorphisms through the condensation of scalar fields. The point is that we should find the gravitational Higgs mechanism such that it results in massive gravity in a flat Minkowski space-time without non-unitary propagating modes. This is usually achieved by including higher-derivative terms in scalars and tuning the cosmological constant to be a negative value in a proper way. Recently, a similar but different gravitational Higgs mechanism has been advocated by Chamseddine and Mukhanov where one can relax the negative cosmological constant to zero or positive one. In this work, we investigate why the non-unitary ghost mode decouples from physical Hilbert space in a general space-time dimension. Moreover, we generalize the model to possess an arbitrary potential and clarify under what conditions the general model exhibits the gravitational Higgs mechanism. By searching for solutions to the conditions, we arrive at two classes of potentials exhibiting gravitational Higgs mechanism. One class includes the model by Chamseddine and Mukhanov in a specific case while the other is completely a new model.Comment: 11 page

On Unitarity of Massive Gravity in Three Dimensions

We examine a unitarity of a particular higher-derivative extension of general relativity in three space-time dimensions, which has been recently shown to be equivalent to the Pauli-Fierz massive gravity at the linearized approximation level, and explore a possibility of generalizing the model to higher space-time dimensions. We find that the model in three dimensions is indeed unitary in the tree-level, but the corresponding model in higher dimensions is not so due to the appearance of non-unitary massless spin-2 modes.Comment: 10 pages, references adde

Classical Solutions of Ghost Condensation Models

Motivated by ideas obtained from both ghost condensation and gravitational Higgs mechanism, we attempt to find classical solutions in the unitary gauge in general ghost condensation models. It is shown that depending on the form of scalar fields in an action, there are three kinds of exact solutions, which are (anti-) de Sitter space-time, polynomially expanding universes and flat Minkowski space-time. We briefly comment on gravitational Higgs mechanism in these models where we have massive gravitons of 5 degrees of freedom and 1 unitary scalar field (Nambu-Goldstone boson) after spontaneous symmetry breakdown of general coordinate reparametrization invariance. The models at hand are free from the problem associated with the non-unitary propagating mode.Comment: 9 pages, no figure

STM/STS Study on 4a X 4a Electronic Charge Order of Superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d

We performed low-bias STM measurements on underdoped Bi2212 crystals, and confirmed that a two-dimensional (2D) superstructure with a periodicity of four lattice constants (4a) is formed within the Cu-O plane at T<Tc. This 4a X 4a superstructure, oriented along the Cu-O bonding direction, is nondispersive and more intense in lightly doped samples with a zero temperature pseudogap (ZTPG) than in samples with a d-wave gap. The nondispersive 4a X 4a superstructure was clearly observed within the ZTPG or d-wave gap, while it tended to fade out outside the gaps. The present results provide a useful test for various models proposed for an electronic order hidden in the underdoped region of high-Tc cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Unusual interplay between copper-spin and vortex dynamics in slightly overdoped La{1.83}Sr{0.17}CuO{4}

Our inelastic neutron scattering experiments of the spin excitations in the slightly overdoped La{1.83}Sr{0.17}CuO{4} compound show that, under the application of a magnetic field of 5 Tesla, the low-temperature susceptibility undergoes a weight redistribution centered at the spin-gap energy. Furthermore, by comparing the temperature dependence of the neutron data with ac-susceptibility and magnetization measurements, we conclude that the filling in of the spin gap tracks the irreversibility/melting temperature rather than Tc2, which indicates an unusual interplay between the magnetic vortices and the spin excitations even in the slightly overdoped regime of high-temperature superconductors.Comment: 7 pages, including 5 figure

Variation of Electrostatic Coupling and Investigation of Current Percolation Paths in Nanocrystalline Silicon Cross Transistors

Nanocrystalline silicon thin films are promising materials for the development of advanced Large Scale Integration compatible quantum-dot and single-electron charging devices. The films consist of nanometer-scale grains of crystalline silicon, separated by amorphous silicon or silicon dioxide grain boundaries up to a few nanometer thick. These films have been used to fabricate single-electron transistor and memory devices, where the grains form single-electron charging islands isolated by tunnel barriers formed by the grain boundaries. The grain boundary tunnel barrier isolating the grains is also of great importance, as this determines the extent of the electrostatic and tunnel coupling between different grains. These effects can lead to the nanocrystalline silicon thin film behaving as a system of coupled quantum dots.&amp; more..

X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy

Cosmic origin of X- and gamma ray