591 research outputs found
Stellar Recipes for Axion Hunters
There are a number of observational hints from astrophysics which point to
the existence of stellar energy losses beyond the ones accounted for by
neutrino emission. These excessive energy losses may be explained by the
existence of a new sub-keV mass pseudoscalar Nambu--Goldstone boson with tiny
couplings to photons, electrons, and nucleons. An attractive possibility is to
identify this particle with the axion -- the hypothetical pseudo
Nambu--Goldstone boson predicted by the Peccei--Quinn solution to the strong CP
problem. We explore this possibility in terms of a DFSZ-type axion and of a
KSVZ-type axion/majoron, respectively. Both models allow a good global fit to
the data, prefering an axion mass around 10 meV. We show that future axion
experiments -- the fifth force experiment ARIADNE and the helioscope IAXO --
can attack the preferred mass range from the lower and higher end,
respectively. An axion in this mass range can also be the main constituent of
dark matter.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figure
The Quest for an Intermediate-Scale Accidental Axion and Further ALPs
The recent detection of the cosmic microwave background polarimeter
experiment BICEP2 of tensor fluctuations in the B-mode power spectrum basically
excludes all plausible axion models where its decay constant is above
GeV. Moreover, there are strong theoretical, astrophysical, and cosmological
motivations for models involving, in addition to the axion, also axion-like
particles (ALPs), with decay constants in the intermediate scale range, between
GeV and GeV. Here, we present a general analysis of models
with an axion and further ALPs and derive bounds on the relative size of the
axion and ALP photon (and electron) coupling. We discuss what we can learn from
measurements of the axion and ALP photon couplings about the fundamental
parameters of the underlying ultraviolet completion of the theory. For the
latter we consider extensions of the Standard Model in which the axion and the
ALP(s) appear as pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons from the breaking of global
chiral (Peccei-Quinn (PQ)) symmetries, occuring accidentally as low
energy remnants from exact discrete symmetries. In such models, the axion and
the further ALP are protected from disastrous explicit symmetry breaking
effects due to Planck-scale suppressed operators. The scenarios considered
exploit heavy right handed neutrinos getting their mass via PQ symmetry
breaking and thus explain the small mass of the active neutrinos via a seesaw
relation between the electroweak and an intermediate PQ symmetry breaking
scale. We show some models that can accommodate simultaneously an axion dark
matter candidate, an ALP explaining the anomalous transparency of the universe
for -rays, and an ALP explaining the recently reported 3.55 keV gamma
line from galaxies and clusters of galaxies, if the respective decay constants
are of intermediate scale.Comment: 43pp, 4 figures. v2: version accepted for publication in JHE
The Sphaleron Barrier in the Presence of Fermions
We calculate the minimal energy path over the sphaleron barrier in the
pre\-sen\-ce of fermions, assuming that the fermions of a doublet are
degenerate in mass. This allows for spherically symmetric ans\"atze for the
fields, when the mixing angle dependence is neglected. While light fermions
have little influence on the barrier, the presence of heavy fermions ( TeV) strongly deforms the barrier, giving rise to additional sphalerons
for very heavy fermions ( 10 TeV). Heavy fermions form
non-topological solitons in the vacuum sector.Comment: 19 pages, latex, 18 figures in 3 seperate uuencoded postscript files
THU-93/1
Numerical investigation of friction in inflaton equations of motion
The equation of motion for the expectation value of a scalar quantum field
does not have the local form that is commonly assumed in studies of
inflationary cosmology. We have recently argued that the true, temporally
non-local equation of motion does not possess a time-derivative expansion and
that the conversion of inflaton energy into particles is not, in principle,
described by the friction term estimated from linear response theory. Here, we
use numerical methods to investigate whether this obstacle to deriving a local
equation of motion is purely formal, or of some quantitative importance. Using
a simple scalar-field model, we find that, although the non-equilibrium
evolution can exhibit significant damping, this damping is not well described
by the local equation of motion obtained from linear response theory. It is
possible that linear response theory does not apply to the situation we study
only because thermalization turns out to be slow, but we argue that that the
large discrepancies we observe indicate a failure of the local approximation at
a more fundamental level.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
Propagators and Matrix Basis on Noncommutative Minkowski Space
We describe an analytic continuation of the Euclidean Grosse-Wulkenhaar and
LSZ models which defines a one-parameter family of duality covariant
noncommutative field theories interpolating between Euclidean and Minkowski
space versions of these models, and provides an alternative regularization to
the usual Feynman prescription. This regularization allows for a matrix model
representation of the field theories in terms of a complex generalization of
the usual basis of Landau wavefunctions. The corresponding propagators are
calculated and identified with the Feynman propagators of the field theories.
The regulated quantum field theories are shown to be UV/IR-duality covariant.
We study the asymptotics of the regularized propagators in position and matrix
space representations, and confirm that they generically possess a comparably
good decay behaviour as in the Euclidean case.Comment: 45 pages; v2: clarifying comments added; v3: further clarifying
comments added; Final version published in Physical Review
Nondegenerate Fermions in the Background of the Sphaleron Barrier
We consider level crossing in the background of the sphaleron barrier for
nondegenerate fermions. The mass splitting within the fermion doublets allows
only for an axially symmetric ansatz for the fermion fields. In the background
of the sphaleron we solve the partial differential equations for the fermion
functions. We find little angular dependence for our choice of ansatz. We
therefore propose a good approximate ansatz with radial functions only. We
generalize this approximate ansatz with radial functions only to fermions in
the background of the sphaleron barrier and argue, that it is a good
approximation there, too.Comment: LATEX, 20 pages, 11 figure
Probing Low Energy Neutrino Backgrounds with Neutrino Capture on Beta Decaying Nuclei
We study the interaction of low energy neutrinos on nuclei that spontaneously
undergo beta decay showing that the product of the cross section times neutrino
velocity takes values as high as 10^{-42} cm^2 c for some specific nuclei that
decay via allowed transitions. The absence of energy threshold and the value of
the cross section single out these processes as a promising though very
demanding approach for future experiments aimed at a direct detection of low
energy neutrino backgrounds such as the cosmological relic neutrinos.Comment: Includes a discussion of local relic neutrino density effect on
neutrino capture rate. Accepted for publication in JCA
Quantum Effects in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker Cosmologies
Electrodynamics for self-interacting scalar fields in spatially flat
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-times is studied. The corresponding one-loop
field equation for the expectation value of the complex scalar field in the
conformal vacuum is derived. For exponentially expanding universes, the
equations for the Bogoliubov coefficients describing the coupling of the scalar
field to gravity are solved numerically. They yield a non-local correction to
the Coleman-Weinberg effective potential which does not modify the pattern of
minima found in static de Sitter space. Such a correction contains a
dissipative term which, accounting for the decay of the classical configuration
in scalar field quanta, may be relevant for the reheating stage. The physical
meaning of the non-local term in the semiclassical field equation is
investigated by evaluating this contribution for various background field
configurations.Comment: 17 pages, plain TeX + 5 uuencoded figure
Axion interpretation of the PVLAS data?
The PVLAS collaboration has recently reported the observation of a rotation
of the polarization plane of light propagating through a transverse static
magnetic field. Such an effect can arise from the production of a light, m_A ~
meV, pseudoscalar coupled to two photons with coupling strength g_{A\gamma} ~
5x10^{-6} GeV^{-1}. Here, we review these experimental findings, discuss how
astrophysical and helioscope bounds on this coupling can be evaded, and
emphasize some experimental proposals to test the scenario.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, jpconf.cls, talk presented at the ninth
International Conference on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics,
TAUP 2005, Zaragoza, Spain, September 10-14, 200
Instanton propagator and instanton induced processes in scalar model
The propagator in the instanton background in the
scalar model in four dimensions is studied.Leading and sub-leading terms of its
asymptotics for large momenta and its on-shell double residue are calculated
analytically. These results are applied to the analysis of the initial-state
and initial-final-state corrections and the calculation of the next-to-leading
(propagator) correction to the exponent of the cross section of instanton
induced multiparticle scattering processes.Comment: 44 pages, 7 postscript figures, LaTe
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