5,100 research outputs found
False Vacuum Chaotic Inflation: The New Paradigm?
Recent work is reported on inflation model building in the context of
supergravity and superstrings, with special emphasis on False Vacuum (`Hybrid')
Chaotic Inflation. Globally supersymmetric models do not survive in generic
supergravity theories, but fairly simple conditions can be formulated which do
ensure successful supergravity inflation. The conditions are met in some of the
versions of supergravity that emerge from superstrings.Comment: 4 pages, LATEX, LANCASTER-TH 94-1
Topological Defects as Seeds for Eternal Inflation
We investigate the global structure of inflationary universe both by
analytical methods and by computer simulations of stochastic processes in the
early Universe. We show that the global structure of the universe depends
crucially on the mechanism of inflation. In the simplest models of chaotic
inflation the Universe looks like a sea of thermalized phase surrounding
permanently self-reproducing inflationary domains. In the theories where
inflation occurs near a local extremum of the effective potential corresponding
to a metastable state, the Universe looks like de Sitter space surrounding
islands of thermalized phase. A similar picture appears even if the state is unstable but the effective potential has a discrete symmetry . In this case the Universe becomes divided into domains containing
different phases. These domains will be separated from each other by domain
walls. However, unlike ordinary domain walls, these domain walls will inflate,
and their thickness will exponentially grow. In the theories with continuous
symmetries inflation generates exponentially expanding strings and monopoles
surrounded by thermalized phase. Inflating topological defects will be stable,
and they will unceasingly produce new inflating topological defects. This means
that topological defects may play a role of indestructible seeds for eternal
inflation.Comment: 21 pages, 17 figures (not included), Stanford University preprint
SU--ITP--94--
Supercurvaton
We discuss observational consequences of the curvaton scenario, which
naturally appears in the context of the simplest model of chaotic inflation in
supergravity. The non-gaussianity parameter f_NL in this scenario can take
values in the observationally interesting range from O(10) to O(100). These
values may be different in different parts of the universe. The regions where
f_NL is particularly large form a curvaton web resembling a net of thick domain
walls, strings, or global monopoles.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure. Non-perturbative effects related to
non-gaussianity in the curvaton scenario are discussed, some references are
added. This is the version accepted in JCA
Nuclear Physics in a Susy Universe
We refine a previous zeroth order analysis of the nuclear properties of a
supersymmetric (susy) universe with standard model particle content plus
degenerate susy partners. No assumptions are made concerning the Higgs
structure except we assume that the degenerate fermion/sfermion masses are
non-zero. This alternate universe has been dubbed Susyria and it has been
proposed that such a world may exist with zero vacuum energy in the string
landscape.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur
Systematic reviews of complementary therapies – an annotated bibliography. Part 2: Herbal medicine
Background Complementary therapies are widespread but controversial. We aim to provide a comprehensive collection and a summary of systematic reviews of clinical trials in three major complementary therapies (acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy). This article is dealing with herbal medicine. Potentially relevant reviews were searched through the register of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, the Cochrane Library, Medline, and bibliographies of articles and books. To be included articles had to review prospective clinical trials of herbal medicines; had to describe review methods explicitly; had to be published; and had to focus on treatment effects. Information on conditions, interventions, methods, results and conclusions was extracted using a pre-tested form and summarized descriptively. Results From a total of 79 potentially relevant reviews pre-selected in the screening process 58 met the inclusion criteria. Thirty of the reports reviewed ginkgo (for dementia, intermittent claudication, tinnitus, and macular degeneration), hypericum (for depression) or garlic preparations (for cardiovascular risk factors and lower limb atherosclerosis). The quality of primary studies was criticized in the majority of the reviews. Most reviews judged the available evidence as promising but definitive conclusions were rarely possible. Conclusions Systematic reviews are available on a broad range of herbal preparations prescribed for defined conditions. There is very little evidence on the effectiveness of herbalism as practised by specialist herbalists who combine herbs and use unconventional diagnosis
Inflation and Large Internal Dimensions
We consider some aspects of inflation in models with large internal
dimensions. If inflation occurs on a 3D wall after the stabilization of
internal dimensions in the models with low unification scale (M ~ 1 TeV), the
inflaton field must be extremely light. This problem may disappear In models
with intermediate (M ~10^{11} GeV) to high (M ~ 10^{16} GeV) unification scale.
However, in all of these cases the wall inflation does not provide a complete
solution to the horizon and flatness problems. To solve them, there must be a
stage of inflation in the bulk before the compactification of internal
dimensions.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, minor modification
Open inflation and the singular boundary
The singularity in Hawking and Turok's model (hep-th/9802030) of open
inflation has some appealing properties. We suggest that this singularity
should be regularized with matter. The singular instanton can then be obtained
as the limit of a family of ``no-boundary'' solutions where both the geometry
and the scalar field are regular. Using this procedure, the contribution of the
singularity to the Euclidean action is just 1/3 of the Gibbons-Hawking boundary
term. Unrelated to this question, we also point out that gravitational
backreaction improves the behaviour of scalar perturbations near the
singularity. As a result, the problem of quantizing scalar perturbations and
gravity waves seems to be very well posed.Comment: 7 page
Stationarity of Inflation and Predictions of Quantum Cosmology
We describe several different regimes which are possible in inflationary
cosmology. The simplest one is inflation without self-reproduction of the
universe. In this scenario the universe is not stationary. The second regime,
which exists in a broad class of inflationary models, is eternal inflation with
the self-reproduction of inflationary domains. In this regime local properties
of domains with a given density and given values of fields do not depend on the
time when these domains were produced. The probability distribution to find a
domain with given properties in a self-reproducing universe may or may not be
stationary, depending on the choice of an inflationary model. We give examples
of models where each of these possibilities can be realized, and discuss some
implications of our results for quantum cosmology. In particular, we propose a
new mechanism which may help solving the cosmological constant problem.Comment: 30 pages, Stanford preprint SU-ITP-94-24, LaTe
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