Excited Q-Balls in the MSSM with gravity mediated supersymmetry breaking

Excited Q-balls are studied by numerical simulations in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with supersymmetry broken by a gravity mediated mechanism. It is found that there is a suppression factor of \cO(10^{-2}) in the rate at which a Q-ball can emit their excess energy compared to the rate set by the dynamical scale of the field, $m$. Furthermore, it is noted that a Q-ball can withstand a large amount of excess energy without losing a significant amount of its charge. The cosmological importance of these properties are considered for Q-balls in the thermal bath of the early universe.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Spatial dynamics of homochiralization

The emergence and spreading of chirality on the early Earth is considered by studying a set of reaction-diffusion equations based on a polymerization model. It is found that effective mixing of the early oceans is necessary to reach the present homochiral state. The possibility of introducing mass extinctions and modifying the emergence rate of life is discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Int. J. Astrobiol. (in press

Q-Ball Collisions in the MSSM

Collisions of non-topological solitons, Q-balls, are studied in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model in two different cases: where supersymmetry has been broken by a gravitationally coupled hidden sector and by a gauge mediated mechanism at a lower energy scale. Q-ball collisions are studied numerically on a two dimensional lattice for a range of Q-ball charges. Total cross-sections as well as cross-sections for fusion and charge exchange are calculated.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of Strong and Electroweak Matter (SEWM2000), Marseille, France, 14-17 June, 200

Q-ball collisions in the MSSM: gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking

Collisions of non-topological solitons, Q-balls, are studied in a typical potential in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model where supersymmetry has been broken by a gravitationally coupled hidden sector. Q-ball collisions are studied numerically on a two dimensional lattice for a range of Q-ball charges. Total cross-sections, as well as cross-sections for fusion and charge-exchange are calculated. The average percentage increase in charge carried by the largest Q-ball after a collision is found to be weakly dependent on the initial charge.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, one reference adde

Improving the false nearest neighbors method with graphical analysis

We introduce a graphical presentation for the false nearest neighbors (FNN) method. In the original method only the percentage of false neighbors is computed without regard to the distribution of neighboring points in the time-delay coordinates. With this new presentation it is much easier to distinguish deterministic chaos from noise. The graphical approach also serves as a tool to determine better conditions for detecting low dimensional chaos, and to get a better understanding on the applicability of the FNN method.Comment: 4 pages, with 5 PostScript figure

Fitting oscillating string gas cosmology to supernova data

In string gas cosmology, extra dimensions are stabilised by a gas of strings. In the matter-dominated era, competition between matter pushing the extra dimensions to expand and the string gas pulling them back can lead to oscillations of the extra dimensions and acceleration in the visible dimensions. We fit this model to supernova data, taking into account the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraint on the energy density of the string gas. The fit to the Union set of supernova data is acceptable, but the fit to the ESSENCE data is poor.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures. v2: published version. Important correction in the calculation of distances, added reference