5,597 research outputs found
Flux-induced Soft Terms on Type IIB/F-theory Matter Curves and Hypercharge Dependent Scalar Masses
Closed string fluxes induce generically SUSY-breaking soft terms on
supersymmetric type IIB orientifold compactifications with D3/D7 branes. This
was studied in the past by inserting those fluxes on the DBI+CS actions for
adjoint D3/D7 fields, where D7-branes had no magnetic fluxes. In the present
work we generalise those computations to the phenomenologically more relevant
case of chiral bi-fundamental fields laying at 7-brane intersections and
F-theory local matter curves. We also include the effect of 7-brane magnetic
flux as well as more general closed string backgrounds, including the effect of
distant (anti-)D3-branes. We discuss several applications of our results. We
find that squark/slepton masses become in general flux-dependent in F-theory
GUT's. Hypercharge-dependent non-universal scalar masses with a characteristic
sfermion hierarchy m_E^2 < m_L^2 < m_Q^2 < m_D^2 < m_U^2 are obtained. There
are also flavor-violating soft terms both for matter fields living at
intersecting 7-branes or on D3-branes at singularities. They point at a very
heavy sfermion spectrum to avoid FCNC constraints. We also discuss the possible
microscopic description of the fine-tuning of the EW Higgs boson in
compactifications with a MSSM spectrum.Comment: 67 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
Measuring the interaction force between a high temperature superconductor and a permanent magnet
Repulsive and attractive forces are both possible between a superconducting
sample and a permanent magnet, and they can give place to magnetic levitation
or free-suspension phenomena, respectively. We show experiments to quantify
this magnetic interaction which represents a promising field regarding to
short-term technological applications of high temperature superconductors. The
measuring technique employs an electronic balance and a rare-earth magnet that
induces a magnetic moment in a melt-textured YBa2Cu3O7 superconductor immersed
in liquid nitrogen. The simple design of the experiments allows a fast and easy
implementation in the advanced physics laboratory with a minimum cost. Actual
levitation and suspension demonstrations can be done simultaneously as a help
to interpret magnetic force measurements.Comment: 12 pages and 3 figures in postscrip
Oscillatory dynamics of a superconductor vortex lattice in high amplitude ac magnetic fields
In this work we study by ac susceptibility measurements the evolution of the
solid vortex lattice mobility under oscillating forces. Previous work had
already shown that in YBCO single crystals, below the melting transition, a
temporarily symmetric magnetic ac field (e.g. sinusoidal, square, triangular)
can heal the vortex lattice (VL) and increase its mobility, but a temporarily
asymmetric one (e.g. sawtooth) of the same amplitude can tear the lattice into
a more pinned disordered state. In this work we present evidence that the
mobility of the VL is reduced for large vortex displacements, in agreement with
predictions of recent simulations. We show that with large symmetric
oscillating fields both an initially ordered or an initially disordered VL
configuration evolve towards a less mobile lattice, supporting the scenario of
plastic flow.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Optical conductivity and Raman scattering of iron superconductors
We discuss how to analyze the optical conductivity and Raman spectra of
multi-orbital systems using the velocity and the Raman vertices in a similar
way Raman vertices were used to disentangle nodal and antinodal regions in
cuprates. We apply this method to iron superconductors in the magnetic and
non-magnetic states, studied at the mean field level. We find that the
anisotropy in the optical conductivity at low frequencies reflects the
difference between the magnetic gaps at the X and Y electron pockets. Both gaps
are sampled by Raman spectroscopy. We also show that the Drude weight
anisotropy in the magnetic state is sensitive to small changes in the lattice
structure.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, as accepted in Phys. Rev. B,
explanations/discussion added in Secs. II, III and V
Higgs-otic Inflation and Moduli Stabilization
We study closed-string moduli stabilization in Higgs-otic inflation in Type
IIB orientifold backgrounds with fluxes. In this setup large-field inflation is
driven by the vacuum energy of mobile D7-branes. Imaginary selfdual (ISD)
three-form fluxes in the background source a -term and the necessary
monodromy for large field excursions while imaginary anti-selfdual (IASD)
three-form fluxes are sourced by non-perturbative contributions to the
superpotential necessary for moduli stabilization. We analyze K\"ahler moduli
stabilization and backreaction on the inflaton potential in detail. Confirming
results in the recent literature, we find that integrating out heavy K\"ahler
moduli leads to a controlled flattening of the inflaton potential. We quantify
the flux tuning necessary for stability even during large-field inflation.
Moreover, we study the backreaction of supersymmetrically stabilized complex
structure moduli and the axio-dilaton in the K\"ahler metric of the inflaton.
Contrary to previous findings, this backreaction can be pushed far out in field
space if a similar flux tuning as in the K\"ahler sector is possible. This
allows for a trans-Planckian field range large enough to support inflation.Comment: 42 pages, 10 figures, v2: comments and references added. Published
versio
The DBI Action, Higher-derivative Supergravity, and Flattening Inflaton Potentials
In string theory compactifications it is common to find an effective
Lagrangian for the scalar fields with a non-canonical kinetic term. We study
the effective action of the scalar position moduli of Type II D-branes. In
many instances the kinetic terms are in fact modified by a term proportional to
the scalar potential itself. This can be linked to the appearance of
higher-dimensional supersymmetric operators correcting the K\"ahler potential.
We identify the supersymmetric dimension-eight operators describing the
corrections captured by the D-brane Dirac-Born-Infeld action. Our
analysis then allows an embedding of the D-brane moduli effective action into
an supergravity formulation. The effects of the
potential-dependent kinetic terms may be very important if one of the scalars
is the inflaton, since they lead to a flattening of the scalar potential. We
analyze this flattening effect in detail and compute its impact on the CMB
observables for single-field inflation with monomial potentials.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures. Comments and references added. Published versio
Effect of Coulomb interactions on the optical properties of doped graphene
Recent optical conductivity experiments of doped graphene in the infrared
regime reveal a strong background in the energy region between the intra and
interband transitions difficult to explain within conventional pictures. We
propose a phenomenological model taking into account the marginal Fermi liquid
nature of the quasiparticles in graphene near the neutrality point that can
explain qualitatively the observed features. We also study the electronic Raman
signal and suggest that it will also be anomalous.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
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