Electroweak Baryogenesis in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

I describe work done in collaboration with M. Joyce and K. Kainulainen on (1) the strength of the electroweak phase transition in the MSSM and (2) the mechanism for producing the baryon asymmetry during the phase transition. In the former we compare the effective potential and dimensional reduction methods for describing the phase transition and search the parameter space of the MSSM for those values where it is strong enough. In the latter we give a systematic computation of the baryon asymmetry due the CP-violating force acting on charginos in the vicinity of the bubble wall. We find that a light right-handed stop, a light Higgs boson, and a large phase in the mu parameter, are the main necessary ingredients for producing the baryon asymmetry.Comment: 5 pages, Latex; Talk given at the Eotvos Conference in Science, Strong and Electroweak Matter '97, Eger, Hungary, 21-25 May 1997; and at the 19th Annual MRST (Montreal-Rochester-Syracuse-Toronto) High-energy Theory Meeting, Syracuse, New York, 12-13 May 199

Tachyon Defect Formation and Reheating in Brane-Antibrane Inflation

We study analytically the dynamical formation of lower dimensional branes at the endpoint of brane-antibrane inflation through the condensation of topological defects of the tachyon field which describes the instability of the initial state. We then use this information to quantify the efficiency of the reheating which is due to the coupling of time dependent tachyon background to massless gauge fields which will be localized on the final state branes. We improve upon previous estimates indicating that this can be an efficient reheating mechanism for observers on the brane.Comment: 9 pages. Talk given at the 26th annual Montreal-Rochester-Syracuse-Toronto Conference on High-Energy Physics: MRST 200

Excited Dark Matter versus PAMELA/Fermi

Excitation of multicomponent dark matter in the galactic center has been proposed as the source of low-energy positrons that produce the excess 511 keV gamma rays that have been observed by INTEGRAL. Such models have also been promoted to explain excess high-energy electrons/positrons observed by the PAMELA, Fermi/LAT and H.E.S.S. experiments. We investigate whether one model can simultaneously fit all three anomalies, in addition to further constraints from inverse Compton scattering by the high-energy leptons. We find models that fit both the 511 keV and PAMELA excesses at dark matter masses M < 400 GeV, but not the Fermi lepton excess. The conflict arises because a more cuspy DM halo profile is needed to match the observed 511 keV signal than is compatible with inverse Compton constraints at larger DM masses.Comment: 4 pages, presented at Moriond Cosmology 201

Is electroweak baryogenesis dead?

Electroweak baryogenesis is severely challenged in its traditional settings: the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, and in more general two Higgs doublet models. Fine tuning of parameters is required, or large couplings leading to a Landau pole at scales just above the new physics introduced. The situation is somewhat better in models with a singlet scalar coupling to the Higgs so as to give a strongly first order phase transition due to a tree-level barrier, but even in this case no UV complete models had been demonstrated to give successful baryogenesis. Here we point out some directions that overcome this limitation, by introducing a new source of CP violation in the couplings of the singlet field. A model of electroweak baryogenesis requiring no fine tuning and consistent to scales far above 1 TeV is demonstrated, in which dark matter plays the leading role in creating a CP asymmetry that is the source of the baryon asymmetry.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Talk presented at Moriond Electroweak (24 Mar. 2017) and Higgs Cosmology workshop, Kavli Royal Society Centre, Chichley Hall, UK (28 Mar. 2017); v2: added discussion of bubble wall shape and velocity and references; published versio

Quintessence, Cosmological Horizons, and Self-Tuning

We point out that quintessence with an exponential potential V_0 exp(- beta phi / 3^{1/2} M_p) can account for the present observed acceleration of the universe, without necessarily leading to eternal acceleration. This occurs for 2.4 < beta < 2.8. Thus a cosmological horizon, which is supposed to be problematic within the context of string theory, can be avoided. We argue that this class of models is not particularly fine-tuned. We further examine this question in the context of a modified Friedmann equation, H^2 ~ rho + p, which is suggested by higher dimensional self-tuning approaches to the cosmological constant problem. It is shown that the self-tuning case can also be consistent with observations, if 1.8 < beta < 2.4. Future observations of high-z supernovae will be able to test whether beta lies in the desired range.Comment: 13 pp., 5 figures; references adde