25 research outputs found
The Baryon-Dark Matter Ratio Via Moduli Decay After Affleck-Dine Baryogenesis
Low-scale supersymmetry breaking in string motivated theories implies the
presence of O(100) TeV scale moduli, which generically lead to a significant
modification of the history of the universe prior to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis.
Such an approach implies a non-thermal origin for dark matter resulting from
scalar decay, where the lightest supersymmetric particle can account for the
observed dark matter relic density. We study the further effect of the decay on
the baryon asymmetry of the universe, and find that this can satisfactorily
address the problem of the over-production of the baryon asymmetry by the
Affleck-Dine mechanism in the MSSM. Remarkably, there is a natural connection
between the baryon and dark matter abundances today, which leads to a solution
of the `Cosmic Coincidence Problem'.Comment: 12 pages, no figure. v2: references adde
Relic Abundance of Asymmetric Dark Matter
We investigate the relic abundance of asymmetric Dark Matter particles that
were in thermal equilibrium in the early universe. The standard analytic
calculation of the symmetric Dark Matter is generalized to the asymmetric case.
We calculate the asymmetry required to explain the observed Dark Matter relic
abundance as a function of the annihilation cross section. We show that
introducing an asymmetry always reduces the indirect detection signal from WIMP
annihilation, although it has a larger annihilation cross section than
symmetric Dark Matter. This opens new possibilities for the construction of
realistic models of MeV Dark Matter.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, Accepted by JCA
Measuring tau-polarisation in Neutralino2 decays at the LHC
We show how the sum of the two average tau polarisations in the decay chain
chi20 -> stau1 tau -> tau tau chi10 in minimal supersymmetry with conserved
R-parity can be measured at the LHC. This is accomplished by exploiting the
polarisation dependence of the visible di-tau mass spectrum. Such a measurement
provides information on the couplings of the involved SUSY particles and allows
a more precise determination of the di-tau mass endpoint. If different tau
decay modes can be distinguished, the polarisation and endpoint measurement can
be improved even further.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, minor change
On Adler-Bell-Jackiw Anomaly in 3-brane Scenario
We investigate the ABJ anomaly in the framework of an effective field theory
for a 3-brane scenario and show that the contribution from induced gravity on
the brane depends on both the topological structure of the bulk space-time and
the embedding of the brane in the bulk. This fact implies the existence of a
non-trivial vacuum structure of bulk quantum gravity. Furthermore, we argue
that this axial gravitational anomaly may not necessarily be cancelled by
choosing the matter content on the brane since it could be considered as a
possible effect from bulk quantum gravity.Comment: 17 pages, RevTex, no figures. Some further misprints are correcte
General Axisymmetric Solutions and Self-Tuning in 6D Chiral Gauged Supergravity
We re-examine the properties of the axially-symmetric solutions to chiral
gauged 6D supergravity, recently found in refs. hep-th/0307238 and
hep-th/0308064. Ref. hep-th/0307238 finds the most general solutions having two
singularities which are maximally-symmetric in the large 4 dimensions and which
are axially-symmetric in the internal dimensions. We show that not all of these
solutions have purely conical singularities at the brane positions, and that
not all singularities can be interpreted as being the bulk geometry sourced by
neutral 3-branes. The subset of solutions for which the metric singularities
are conical precisely agree with the solutions of ref. hep-th/0308064.
Establishing this connection between the solutions of these two references
resolves a minor conflict concerning whether or not the tensions of the
resulting branes must be negative. The tensions can be both negative and
positive depending on the choice of parameters. We discuss the physical
interpretation of the non-conical solutions, including their significance for
the proposal for using 6-dimensional self-tuning to understand the small size
of the observed vacuum energy. In passing we briefly comment on a recent paper
by Garriga and Porrati which criticizes the realization of self-tuning in 6D
supergravity.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure; JHEP3 style; Some references added, and
discussion of tension constraints and unwarped solutions made more explici
Neutrino Masses, Baryon Asymmetry, Dark Matter and the Moduli Problem : A Complete Framework
Recent developments in string theory have led to "realistic" string
compactifications which lead to moduli stabilization while generating a
hierarchy between the Electroweak and Planck scales at the same time. However,
this seems to suggest a rethink of our standard notions of cosmological
evolution after the end of inflation and before the beginning of BBN. We argue
that within classes of realistic string compactifications, there generically
exists a light modulus with a mass comparable to that of the gravitino which
generates a large late-time entropy when it decays. Therefore, all known
mechanisms of generating the baryon asymmetry of the Universe in the literature
have to take this fact into account. In this work, we find that it is still
possible to naturally generate the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe as
well as light left-handed neutrino masses from a period of Affleck-Dine(AD)
leptogenesis shortly after the end of inflation, in classes of realistic string
constructions with a minimal extension of the MSSM below the unification scale
(consisting only of right-handed neutrinos) and satisfying certain microscopic
criteria described in the text. The consequences are as follows. The lightest
left-handed neutrino is required to be virtually massless. The moduli
(gravitino) problem can be naturally solved in this framework both within
gravity and gauge mediation. The observed upper bound on the relic abundance
constrains the moduli-matter and moduli-gravitino couplings since the DM is
produced non-thermally within this framework. Finally, although not a definite
prediction, the framework naturally allows a light right-handed neutrino and
sneutrinos around the electroweak scale which could have important implications
for DM as well as the LHC.Comment: 41 pages, no figures, journal version adde
Exploring nu signals in dark matter detectors
We investigate standard and non-standard solar neutrino signals in direct
dark matter detection experiments. It is well known that even without new
physics, scattering of solar neutrinos on nuclei or electrons is an irreducible
background for direct dark matter searches, once these experiments each the ton
scale. Here, we entertain the possibility that neutrino interactions are
enhanced by new physics, such as new light force carriers (for instance a "dark
photon") or neutrino magnetic moments. We consider models with only the three
standard neutrino flavors, as well as scenarios with extra sterile neutrinos.
We find that low-energy neutrino--electron and neutrino--nucleus scattering
rates can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude, potentially enough to
explain the event excesses observed in CoGeNT and CRESST. We also investigate
temporal modulation in these neutrino signals, which can arise from geometric
effects, oscillation physics, non-standard neutrino energy loss, and
direction-dependent detection efficiencies. We emphasize that, in addition to
providing potential explanations for existing signals, models featuring new
physics in the neutrino sector can also be very relevant to future dark matter
searches, where, on the one hand, they can be probed and constrained, but on
the other hand, their signatures could also be confused with dark matter
signals.Comment: 38 pages, 8 figures, 1 table; v3: eq 3 and nuclear recoil plots
corrected, footnote added, conclusions unchange
Affleck-Dine dynamics and the dark sector of pangenesis
Pangenesis is the mechanism for jointly producing the visible and dark matter
asymmetries via Affleck-Dine dynamics in a baryon-symmetric universe. The
baryon-symmetric feature means that the dark asymmetry cancels the visible
baryon asymmetry and thus enforces a tight relationship between the visible and
dark matter number densities. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the
general dynamics of this scenario in more detail and to construct specific
models. After reviewing the simple symmetry structure that underpins all
baryon-symmetric models, we turn to a detailed analysis of the required
Affleck-Dine dynamics. Both gravity-mediated and gauge-mediated supersymmetry
breaking are considered, with the messenger scale left arbitrary in the latter,
and the viable regions of parameter space are determined. In the gauge-mediated
case where gravitinos are light and stable, the regime where they constitute a
small fraction of the dark matter density is identified. We discuss the
formation of Q-balls, and delineate various regimes in the parameter space of
the Affleck-Dine potential with respect to their stability or lifetime and
their decay modes. We outline the regions in which Q-ball formation and decay
is consistent with successful pangenesis. Examples of viable dark sectors are
presented, and constraints are derived from big bang nucleosynthesis, large
scale structure formation and the Bullet cluster. Collider signatures and
implications for direct dark matter detection experiments are briefly
discussed. The following would constitute evidence for pangenesis:
supersymmetry, GeV-scale dark matter mass(es) and a Z' boson with a significant
invisible width into the dark sector.Comment: 51 pages, 7 figures; v2: minor modifications, comments and references
added; v3: minor changes, matches published versio
Supersymmetric Relations Among Electromagnetic Dipole Operators
Supersymmetric contributions to all leptonic electromagnetic dipole operators
have essentially identical diagramatic structure. With approximate slepton
universality this allows the muon anomalous magnetic moment to be related to
the electron electric dipole moment in terms of supersymmetric phases, and to
radiative flavor changing lepton decays in terms of small violations of slepton
universality. If the current discrepancy between the measured and Standard
Model values of the muon anomalous magnetic moment is due to supersymmetry, the
current bound on the electron electric dipole moment then implies that the
phase of the electric dipole operator is less than . Likewise
the current bound on decay implies that the fractional
selectron-smuon mixing in the left-left mass squared matrix, \delta m_{\smuon
\selectron}^2 / m_{\slepton}^2, is less than . These relations and
constraints are fairly insensitive to details of the superpartner spectrum for
moderate to large .Comment: Latex, 38 pages, 2 figure
Oscillating Asymmetric Dark Matter
We study the dynamics of dark matter (DM) particle-antiparticle oscillations
within the context of asymmetric DM. Oscillations arise due to small DM
number-violating Majorana-type mass terms, and can lead to recoupling of
annihilation after freeze-out and washout of the DM density. We derive the
density matrix equations for DM oscillations and freeze-out from first
principles using nonequilibrium field theory, and our results are qualitatively
different than in previous studies. DM dynamics exhibits
particle-vs-antiparticle "flavor" effects, depending on the interaction type,
analogous to neutrino oscillations in a medium. "Flavor-sensitive" DM
interactions include scattering or annihilation through a new vector boson,
while "flavor-blind" interactions include scattering or s-channel annihilation
through a new scalar boson, or annihilation to pairs of bosons. In particular,
we find that flavor-sensitive annihilation does not recouple when coherent
oscillations begin, and that flavor-blind scattering does not lead to
decoherence.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, A typo fixed, References adde