Muon g-2 through a flavor structure on soft SUSY terms

In this work we analyze the possibility to explain the muon anomalous magnetic moment discrepancy within theory and experiment through lepton flavor violation processes. We propose a flavor extended MSSM by considering a hierarchical family structure for the trilinear scalar Soft-Supersymmetric terms of the Lagranagian, present at the SUSY breaking scale. We obtain analytical results for the rotation mass matrix, with the consequence of having non-universal slepton masses and the possibility of leptonic flavour mixing. The one-loop supersymmetric contributions to the leptonic flavour violating process $\tau \to \mu\gamma$ are calculated in the physical basis, with slepton flavour mixed states, instead of using the well known Mass Insertion Method. We present the regions in parameter space where the muon g-2 problem is either entirely solved or partially reduced through the contribution of these flavor violating processes.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures. Changes on version 3: In order to obtain the complete result for muon g-2 in the limit of non-flavor violation we added the terms given in the appendix. We redid the graphics and numerical analysis including these changes. We also corrected some typos and changed the order of figure

An Invitation to Higher Gauge Theory

In this easy introduction to higher gauge theory, we describe parallel transport for particles and strings in terms of 2-connections on 2-bundles. Just as ordinary gauge theory involves a gauge group, this generalization involves a gauge '2-group'. We focus on 6 examples. First, every abelian Lie group gives a Lie 2-group; the case of U(1) yields the theory of U(1) gerbes, which play an important role in string theory and multisymplectic geometry. Second, every group representation gives a Lie 2-group; the representation of the Lorentz group on 4d Minkowski spacetime gives the Poincar\'e 2-group, which leads to a spin foam model for Minkowski spacetime. Third, taking the adjoint representation of any Lie group on its own Lie algebra gives a 'tangent 2-group', which serves as a gauge 2-group in 4d BF theory, which has topological gravity as a special case. Fourth, every Lie group has an 'inner automorphism 2-group', which serves as the gauge group in 4d BF theory with cosmological constant term. Fifth, every Lie group has an 'automorphism 2-group', which plays an important role in the theory of nonabelian gerbes. And sixth, every compact simple Lie group gives a 'string 2-group'. We also touch upon higher structures such as the 'gravity 3-group' and the Lie 3-superalgebra that governs 11-dimensional supergravity.Comment: 60 pages, based on lectures at the 2nd School and Workshop on Quantum Gravity and Quantum Geometry at the 2009 Corfu Summer Institut

2-Vector Spaces and Groupoids

This paper describes a relationship between essentially finite groupoids and 2-vector spaces. In particular, we show to construct 2-vector spaces of Vect-valued presheaves on such groupoids. We define 2-linear maps corresponding to functors between groupoids in both a covariant and contravariant way, which are ambidextrous adjoints. This is used to construct a representation--a weak functor--from Span(Gpd) (the bicategory of groupoids and spans of groupoids) into 2Vect. In this paper we prove this and give the construction in detail.Comment: 44 pages, 5 figures - v2 adds new theorem, significant changes to proofs, new sectio

On the causal Barrett--Crane model: measure, coupling constant, Wick rotation, symmetries and observables

We discuss various features and details of two versions of the Barrett-Crane spin foam model of quantum gravity, first of the Spin(4)-symmetric Riemannian model and second of the SL(2,C)-symmetric Lorentzian version in which all tetrahedra are space-like. Recently, Livine and Oriti proposed to introduce a causal structure into the Lorentzian Barrett--Crane model from which one can construct a path integral that corresponds to the causal (Feynman) propagator. We show how to obtain convergent integrals for the 10j-symbols and how a dimensionless constant can be introduced into the model. We propose a `Wick rotation' which turns the rapidly oscillating complex amplitudes of the Feynman path integral into positive real and bounded weights. This construction does not yet have the status of a theorem, but it can be used as an alternative definition of the propagator and makes the causal model accessible by standard numerical simulation algorithms. In addition, we identify the local symmetries of the models and show how their four-simplex amplitudes can be re-expressed in terms of the ordinary relativistic 10j-symbols. Finally, motivated by possible numerical simulations, we express the matrix elements that are defined by the model, in terms of the continuous connection variables and determine the most general observable in the connection picture. Everything is done on a fixed two-complex.Comment: 22 pages, LaTeX 2e, 1 figur

Dual variables and a connection picture for the Euclidean Barrett-Crane model

The partition function of the SO(4)- or Spin(4)-symmetric Euclidean Barrett-Crane model can be understood as a sum over all quantized geometries of a given triangulation of a four-manifold. In the original formulation, the variables of the model are balanced representations of SO(4) which describe the quantized areas of the triangles. We present an exact duality transformation for the full quantum theory and reformulate the model in terms of new variables which can be understood as variables conjugate to the quantized areas. The new variables are pairs of S^3-values associated to the tetrahedra. These S^3-variables parameterize the hyperplanes spanned by the tetrahedra (locally embedded in R^4), and the fact that there is a pair of variables for each tetrahedron can be viewed as a consequence of an SO(4)-valued parallel transport along the edges dual to the tetrahedra. We reconstruct the parallel transport of which only the action of SO(4) on S^3 is physically relevant and rewrite the Barrett-Crane model as an SO(4) lattice BF-theory living on the 2-complex dual to the triangulation subject to suitable constraints whose form we derive at the quantum level. Our reformulation of the Barrett-Crane model in terms of continuous variables is suitable for the application of various analytical and numerical techniques familiar from Statistical Mechanics.Comment: 33 pages, LaTeX, combined PiCTeX/postscript figures, v2: note added, TeX error correcte

A Lorentzian Signature Model for Quantum General Relativity

We give a relativistic spin network model for quantum gravity based on the Lorentz group and its q-deformation, the Quantum Lorentz Algebra. We propose a combinatorial model for the path integral given by an integral over suitable representations of this algebra. This generalises the state sum models for the case of the four-dimensional rotation group previously studied in gr-qc/9709028. As a technical tool, formulae for the evaluation of relativistic spin networks for the Lorentz group are developed, with some simple examples which show that the evaluation is finite in interesting cases. We conjecture that the `10J' symbol needed in our model has a finite value.Comment: 22 pages, latex, amsfonts, Xypic. Version 3: improved presentation. Version 2 is a major revision with explicit formulae included for the evaluation of relativistic spin networks and the computation of examples which have finite value

Positivity of Spin Foam Amplitudes

The amplitude for a spin foam in the Barrett-Crane model of Riemannian quantum gravity is given as a product over its vertices, edges and faces, with one factor of the Riemannian 10j symbols appearing for each vertex, and simpler factors for the edges and faces. We prove that these amplitudes are always nonnegative for closed spin foams. As a corollary, all open spin foams going between a fixed pair of spin networks have real amplitudes of the same sign. This means one can use the Metropolis algorithm to compute expectation values of observables in the Riemannian Barrett-Crane model, as in statistical mechanics, even though this theory is based on a real-time (e^{iS}) rather than imaginary-time (e^{-S}) path integral. Our proof uses the fact that when the Riemannian 10j symbols are nonzero, their sign is positive or negative depending on whether the sum of the ten spins is an integer or half-integer. For the product of 10j symbols appearing in the amplitude for a closed spin foam, these signs cancel. We conclude with some numerical evidence suggesting that the Lorentzian 10j symbols are always nonnegative, which would imply similar results for the Lorentzian Barrett-Crane model.Comment: 15 pages LaTeX. v3: Final version, with updated conclusions and other minor changes. To appear in Classical and Quantum Gravity. v4: corrects # of samples in Lorentzian tabl

Self-referential Monte Carlo method for calculating the free energy of crystalline solids

A self-referential Monte Carlo method is described for calculating the free energy of crystalline solids. All Monte Carlo methods for the free energy of classical crystalline solids calculate the free-energy difference between a state whose free energy can be calculated relatively easily and the state of interest. Previously published methods employ either a simple model crystal, such as the Einstein crystal, or a fluid as the reference state. The self-referential method employs a radically different reference state; it is the crystalline solid of interest but with a different number of unit cells. So it calculates the free-energy difference between two crystals, differing only in their size. The aim of this work is to demonstrate this approach by application to some simple systems, namely, the face centered cubic hard sphere and Lennard-Jones crystals. However, it can potentially be applied to arbitrary crystals in both bulk and confined environments, and ultimately it could also be very efficient

When Do Measures on the Space of Connections Support the Triad Operators of Loop Quantum Gravity?

In this work we investigate the question, under what conditions Hilbert spaces that are induced by measures on the space of generalized connections carry a representation of certain non-Abelian analogues of the electric flux. We give the problem a precise mathematical formulation and start its investigation. For the technically simple case of U(1) as gauge group, we establish a number of "no-go theorems" asserting that for certain classes of measures, the flux operators can not be represented on the corresponding Hilbert spaces. The flux-observables we consider play an important role in loop quantum gravity since they can be defined without recourse to a background geometry, and they might also be of interest in the general context of quantization of non-Abelian gauge theories.Comment: LaTeX, 21 pages, 5 figures; v3: some typos and formulations corrected, some clarifications added, bibliography updated; article is now identical to published versio

Higher Poincare Lemma and Integrability

We prove the non-abelian Poincare lemma in higher gauge theory in two different ways. The first method uses a result by Jacobowitz which states solvability conditions for differential equations of a certain type. The second method extends a proof by Voronov and yields the explicit gauge parameters connecting a flat local connective structure to the trivial one. Finally, we show how higher flatness appears as a necessary integrability condition of a linear system which featured in recently developed twistor descriptions of higher gauge theories.Comment: 1+21 pages, presentation streamlined, section on integrability for higher linear systems significantly improved, published versio