F-term inflation in Superstring Theories

A supersymmetric inflationary stage dominated by an $F$-term has the problem that the flatness of the potential is spoiled by supergravity corrections, that is the slow-roll parameter $\eta$ gets contributions of order unity. We show that in $F$-term inflationary models based on strings there is natural way of obtaining small values of $\eta$. This happens in models of hybrid inflation based on orbifold constructions, in which a modulus $T$ field is responsible for the large value of the potential during inflation, and a second field $\phi$ with appropriate modular weight is responsible for the roll-over. We illustrate the mechanism with a model in which the inflaton potential is provided by gaugino condensation, leading to succesful inflation.Comment: 9 pages, LaTe

Lepton Photon Symposium 2005: Summary and Outlook

Lepton Photon 2005 told the saga of the Standard Model which is still exhilarating because it leaves all questions of consequence unanswered.Comment: Talk presented at the XXII International Symposium on Lepton-Photon Interactions at High Energy, Uppsala, Sweden, July 2005. 11 pages, Latex2e with ws-procs10x7.cls (included), 6 postscript figures (color). Typos correcte

The Fine-Tuning Problem of the Electroweak Symmetry Breaking Mechanism in Minimal SUSY Models

We calculate the region of the MSSM parameter space (i.e. $M_{1/2}$, $m_{0}$, $\mu$, \ldots) compatible with a correct electroweak breaking and a realistic top-quark mass. To do so we have included {\em all} the one-loop corrections to the effective potential $V_{1}$ and checked their importance in order to obtain consistent results. We also consider the fine-tuning problem due to the enormous dependence of $M_{Z}$ on $h_{t}$ (the top Yukawa coupling), which is substantially reduced when the one-loop effects are taken into account. We also explore the reliability of the so-called "standard" criterion to estimate the degree of fine-tuning. As a consequence, we obtain a new set of upper bounds on the MSSM parameters or, equivalently, on the supersymmetric masses perfectly consistent with the present experimental bounds.Comment: talk given at the XVI Kazimierz Meeting on Elementary Particle Physics, Kazimierz (Poland) 24-28 May 1993, 4 pages in standard LATEX + 2 figures (not included but available upon request), CERN-TH.7024/9

Maximally correlated multipartite quantum states

We investigate quantum states that posses both maximum entanglement and maximum discord between the pertinent parties. Since entanglement (discord) is defined only for bipartite (two qubit) systems, we shall introduce an appropriate sum over of all bi-partitions as the associated measure. The ensuing definition --not new for entanglement-- is thus extended here to quantum discord. Also, additional dimensions within the parties are considered ({\it qudits}). We also discuss nonlocality (in the form of maximum violation of a Bell inequality) for all multiqubit systems. The emergence of more nonlocal states than local ones, all of them possessing maximum entanglement, will be linked, surprisingly enough, to whether quantum mechanics is defined over the fields of real or complex numbers.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Cooper pair dispersion relation in two dimensions

The Cooper pair binding energy {\it vs.} center-of-mass-momentum dispersion relation for Bose-Einstein condensation studies of superconductivity is found in two dimensions for a renormalized attractive delta interaction. It crosses over smoothly from a linear to a quadratic form as coupling varies from weak to strong.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, new version published in Physica

Complete structure of Z_n Yukawa couplings

We give the complete twisted Yukawa couplings for all the Z_n orbifold constructions in the most general case, i.e. when orbifold deformations are considered. This includes a certain number of tasks. Namely, determination of the allowed couplings, calculation of the explicit dependence of the Yukawa couplings values on the moduli expectation values (i.e. the parameters determining the size and shape of the compactified space), etc. The final expressions are completely explicit, which allows a counting of the DIFFERENT Yukawa couplings for each orbifold (with and without deformations). This knowledge is crucial to determine the phenomenological viability of the different schemes, since it is directly related to the fermion mass hierarchy. Other facts concerning the phenomenological profile of Z_n orbifolds are also discussed, e.g. the existence of non--diagonal entries in the fermion mass matrices, which is related to a non--trivial structure of the Kobayashi--Maskawa matrix. Finally some theoretical results are given, e.g. the no--participation of (1,2) moduli in twisted Yukawa couplings. Likewise, (1,1) moduli associated with fixed tori which are involved in the Yukawa coupling, do not affect the value of the coupling.Comment: 60 page