119168398
Bigravitational inflation
We study the realization of cosmic inflation in bigravity theories. By analyzing the evolution of scalar, vector and tensor perturbations in de Sitter-like spacetimes, we find strong stability constraints on the class of viable vacua offered by these theories. More specifically, the only stable de Sitter vacua contain two nondecoupled gravitons (one of which is massive) with different maximal propagation speeds. We derive an effective theory for the massless graviton, which is found to propagate at an intermediate speed, limited by the two maximal values. For inflation, while the spectrum of density perturbations remains nearly scale invariant, the power spectrum of tensor modes is found to depart from the usual prediction found in standard slow-roll inflation. In particular, both the tensor to scalar ratio r and the spectral index of tensor modes nT receive sizable contributions from the couplings of the theory, leading to specific signals that may be tested in future cosmological probes of CMB-polarization.
58905616
Loop quantum gravity corrections and cosmic rays decays
Loop quantum gravity effective theories are reviewed in the context of the observed GZK limit anomaly and related processes. This is accomplished through a kinematical analysis of the modified threshold conditions for the involved decay reactions, arising from the theory. Specially interesting is the possibility of an helicity dependant violation of the limit, whose primary effect would be the observation of favoured helicity states for highly energetic particles.
118586772
Features of heavy physics in the CMB power spectrum
The computation of the primordial power spectrum in multi-field inflation models requires us to correctly account for all relevant interactions between adiabatic and non-adiabatic modes around and after horizon crossing. One specific complication arises from derivative interactions induced by the curvilinear trajectory of the inflaton in a multi-dimensional field space. In this work we compute the power spectrum in general multi-field models and show that certain inflaton trajectories may lead to observationally significant imprints of `heavy' physics in the primordial power spectrum if the inflaton trajectory turns, that is, traverses a bend, sufficiently fast (without interrupting slow roll), even in cases where the modes normal to the trajectory have masses approaching the cutoff of our theory. We emphasize that turning is defined with respect to the geodesics of the sigma model metric, irrespective of whether this is canonical or non-trivial. The imprints generically take the form of damped superimposed oscillations on the power spectrum. In the particular case of two-field models, if one of the fields is sufficiently massive compared to the scale of inflation, we are able to compute an effective low energy theory for the adiabatic mode encapsulating certain relevant operators of the full multi-field dynamics. As expected, a particular characteristic of this effective theory is a modified speed of sound for the adiabatic mode which is a functional of the background inflaton trajectory and the turns traversed during inflation. Hence in addition, we expect non-Gaussian signatures directly related to the features imprinted in the power spectrum.
120515364
Observational Constraints on the Braneworld Geometry
55152520
On the importance of heavy fields during inflation
We study the dynamics of two-field models of inflation characterized by a hierarchy of masses between curvature and isocurvature modes. When the hierarchy is large, a low energy effective field theory (EFT) exists in which only curvature modes participate in the dynamics of perturbations. In this EFT heavy fields continue to have a significant role in the low energy dynamics, as their interaction with curvature modes reduces their speed of sound whenever the multi-field trajectory is subject to a sharp turn in target space. Here we analyze under which general conditions this EFT remains a reliable description for the linear evolution of curvature modes. We find that the main condition consists on demanding that the rate of change of the turn's angular velocity stays suppressed with respect to the masses of heavy modes. This adiabaticity condition allows the EFT to accurately describe a large variety of situations in which the multi-field trajectory is subject to sharp turns. To test this, we analyze several models with turns and show that, indeed, the power spectra obtained for both the original two-field theory and its single-field EFT are identical when the adiabaticity condition is satisfied. In particular, when turns are sharp and sudden, they are found to generate large features in the power spectrum, accurately reproduced by the EFT.
15031265
On Newton's law in supersymmetric braneworld models
We study the propagation of gravitons within 5-D supersymmetric braneworld models with a bulk scalar field. The setup considered here consists of a 5-D bulk spacetime bounded by two 4-D branes localized at the fixed points of an S1/2 orbifold. There is a scalar field in the bulk which, given a superpotential W(), determines the warped geometry of the 5-D spacetime. This type of scenario is common in string theory, where the bulk scalar field is related to the volume of small compact extra dimensions. We show that, after the moduli are stabilized by supersymmetry breaking terms localized on the branes, the only relevant degrees of freedom in the bulk consist of a 5-D massive spectrum of gravitons. Then we analyze the gravitational interaction between massive bodies localized at the positive tension brane mediated by these bulk gravitons. It is shown that the Newtonian potential describing this interaction picks up a non-trivial contribution at short distances that depends on the shape of the superpotential W(). We compute this contribution for dilatonic braneworld scenarios W() eα (where α is a constant) and discuss the particular case of 5-D Heterotic M-theory: It is argued that a specific footprint at micron scales could be observable in the near future.
14281658
A self consistent study of the phase transition in the scalar electroweak theory at finite temperature
We propose the study of the phase transition in the scalar electroweak theory at finite temperature by a two — step method. It combines i) dimensional reduction to a 3 — dimensional lattice theory via perturbative blockspin transformation, and ii) either further real space renormalization group transformations, or solution of gap equations, for the 3d lattice theory. A gap equation can be obtained by using the Peierls inequality to find the best quadratic approximation to the 3d action. This method avoids the lack of self consistency of the usual treatments which do not separate infrared and UV-problems by introduction of a lattice cutoff. The effective 3d lattice action could also be used in computer simulations.
15662551
Some remarks on oscillating inflation
In a recent paper Damour and Mukhanov describe a scenario where inflation may continue during the oscillatory phase. This effect is possible because the scalar field spends a significant fraction of each period of oscillation on the upper part of the potential. Such additional period of inflation could push perturbations after the slow roll regime to observable scales. Although in this work we show that the small region of the Damour-Mukhanov parameter q gives the main contribution to oscillating inflation, it was not satisfactory understood until now. Furthermore, it gives an expression for the energy density spectrum of perturbations, which is well behaved in the whole physical range of q .
119486225
Resonance enhancement of particle production during reheating
We found a consistent equation of reheating after inflation which shows that for small quantum fluctuations the frequencies of resonance are slighted different from the standard ones. Quantum interference is taken into account and we found that at large fluctuations the process mimics very well the usual parametric resonance, but proceeds in a different dynamical way. The analysis is made in a toy quantum mechanical model and we discuss further its extension to quantum field theory.
119459248
Analytic calculation of the 1-loop effective action for the O(N+1)-symmetric 2-dimensional nonlinear sigma-model
Polyakov's calculation of the effective action for the 2d nonlinear sigma-Model is generalized by purely analytic means to include contributions which are not UV-divergent and which depend on the choice of block spin. An analytic approximation to the background field which determines the classical perfect action is given, and approximations to the 1-loop correction are found. The results should be useful for numerical simulations.
118478824
A non-perturbative argument for the non-abelian Higgs mechanism
Abstract The evasion of massless Goldstone bosons by the non-abelian Higgs mechanism is proved by a non-perturbative argument in the local BRST gauge.