Fermions and Supersymmetry Breaking in the Interval

We study fermions, such as gravitinos and gauginos in supersymmetric theories, propagating in a five-dimensional bulk where the fifth dimensional component is assumed to be an interval. We show that the most general boundary condition at each endpoint of the interval is encoded in a single complex parameter representing a point in the Riemann sphere. Upon introducing a boundary mass term, the variational principle uniquely determines the boundary conditions and the bulk equations of motion. We show the mass spectrum becomes independent from the Scherk-Schwarz parameter for a suitable choice of one of the two boundary conditions. Furthermore, for any value of the Scherk-Schwarz parameter, a zero-mode is present in the mass spectrum and supersymmetry is recovered if the two complex parameters are tuned.Comment: 10 pages. v2: Paragraph on off-shell globally supersymmetric Lagrangian added. Version published in PL

Old Inflation in String Theory

We propose a stringy version of the old inflation scenario which does not require any slow-roll inflaton potential and is based on a specific example of string compatification with warped metric. Our set-up admits the presence of anti-D3-branes in the deep infrared region of the metric and a false vacuum state with positive vacuum energy density. The latter is responsible for the accelerated period of inflation. The false vacuum exists only if the number of anti-D3-branes is smaller than a critical number and the graceful exit from inflation is attained if a number of anti-D3-branes travels from the ultraviolet towards the infrared region. The cosmological curvature perturbation is generated through the curvaton mechanism.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures; typos corrected and reference adde

Supersymmetry breaking with quasi-localized fields in orbifold field theories

We study the Scherk-Schwarz supersymmetry breaking in five-dimensional orbifold theories with five-dimensional fields which are not strictly localized on the boundaries (quasi-localized fields). We show that the Scherk-Schwarz (SS) mechanism, besides the SS parameter \omega, depends upon new parameters, e.g. supersymmetric five-dimensional odd mass terms, governing the level of localization on the boundaries of the five-dimensional fields and study in detail such a dependence. Taking into account radiative corrections, the value of \omega is dynamically allowed to acquire any value in the range 0< \omega < 1/2.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Low Energy 6-Dimensional N=2 Supersymmertric SU(6) Models on T2T^2 Orbifolds

We propose low energy 6-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric SU(6) models on $M^4\times T^2/(Z_2)^3$ and $M^4\times T^2/(Z_2)^4$, where the orbifold $SU(3)_C\times SU(3)$ model can be embedded on the boundary 4-brane. For the zero modes, the 6-dimensional N=2 supersymmetry and the SU(6) gauge symmetry are broken down to the 4-dimensional N=1 supersymmetry and the $SU(3)_C\times SU(2)_L\times U(1)_Y\times U(1)'$ gauge symmetry by orbifold projections. In order to cancel the anomalies involving at least one $U(1)'$, we add extra exotic particles. We also study the anomaly free conditions and present some anomaly free models. The gauge coupling unification can be achieved at $100\sim 200$ TeV if the compactification scale for the fifth dimension is $3\sim 4$ TeV. The proton decay problem can be avoided by putting the quarks and leptons/neutrinos on different 3-branes. And we discuss how to break the $SU(3)_C\times SU(2)_L\times U(1)_Y\times U(1)'$ gauge symmetry, solve the $\mu$ problem, and generate the $Z-Z'$ mass hierarchy naturally by using the geometry. The masses of exotic particles can be at the order of 1 TeV after the gauge symmetry breaking. We also forbid the dimension-5 operators for the neutrino masses by $U(1)'$ gauge symmetry, and the realistic left-handed neutrino masses can be obtained via non-renormalizable terms.Comment: Latex, 33 pages, discussion and references adde

Cosmology with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) has two scientific objectives of cosmological focus: to probe the expansion rate of the universe, and to understand stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds and their implications for early universe and particle physics, from the MeV to the Planck scale. However, the range of potential cosmological applications of gravitational wave observations extends well beyond these two objectives. This publication presents a summary of the state of the art in LISA cosmology, theory and methods, and identifies new opportunities to use gravitational wave observations by LISA to probe the universe