67849491
Constraints on Dark Matter from Colliders
We show that colliders can impose strong constraints on models of dark matter, in particular, when the dark matter is light. We analyze models where the dark matter is a fermion or scalar interacting with quarks and/or gluons through an effective theory containing higher dimensional operators which represent heavier states that have been integrated out of the effective field theory. We determine bounds from existing Tevatron searches for monojets as well as expected LHC reaches for a discovery. We find that colliders can provide information which is complementary or in some cases even superior to experiments searching for direct detection of dark matter through its scattering with nuclei. In particular, both the Tevatron and the LHC can outperform spin-dependent searches by an order of magnitude or better over much of the parameter space, and if the dark matter couples mainly to gluons, the LHC can place bounds superior to any spin-independent search.
59522874
Sommerfeld enhancements for thermal relic dark matter
The annihilation cross section of thermal relic dark matter determines both its relic density and indirect detection signals. We determine how large indirect signals may be in scenarios with Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation, subject to the constraint that the dark matter has the correct relic density. This work refines our previous analysis through detailed treatments of resonant Sommerfeld enhancement and the effect of Sommerfeld enhancement on freeze out. Sommerfeld enhancements raise many interesting issues in the freeze out calculation, and we find that the cutoff of resonant enhancement, the equilibration of force carriers, the temperature of kinetic decoupling, and the efficiency of self-interactions for preserving thermal velocity distributions all play a role. These effects may have striking consequences; for example, for resonantly-enhanced Sommerfeld annihilation, dark matter freezes out but may then chemically recouple, implying highly suppressed indirect signals, in contrast to naive expectations. In the minimal scenario with standard astrophysical assumptions, and tuning all parameters to maximize the signal, we find that, for force-carrier mass m{sub {phi}=}250 MeV and dark matter masses m{sub X}=0.1, 0.3, and 1 TeV, the maximal Sommerfeld enhancement factors are S{sub eff}=7, 30, and 90, respectively. Such boosts are too small to explain both the PAMELA and Fermimore » excesses. Nonminimal models may require smaller boosts, but the bounds on S{sub eff} could also be more stringent, and dedicated freeze out analyses are required. For concreteness, we focus on 4{mu} final states, but we also discuss 4e and other modes, deviations from standard astrophysical assumptions and nonminimal particle physics models, and we outline the steps required to determine if such considerations may lead to a self-consistent explanation of the PAMELA or Fermi excesses.« less
16773975
The Correction Of Scattering Cross Section Led By Noncommutative Effects
Möller Scattering and Bhabha Scattering on noncommutative spacetime is restudied. A new result is reported. It is shown that the correction of scattering cross sections led by the noncommutative effects is not always enhancement with the total energy of colliding electrons, but there is an optimal collision energy to get the greatest noncommutative correction for noncommutative effect. Moreover there is a linear relation between the noncommutative threshold energy and optimal collision energy, so that the noncommutative threshold energy can be deterimed by experiment in the next generation collider.
118458603
Thermal relics in hidden sectors
Dark matter may be hidden, with no standard model gauge interactions. At the same time, in WIMPless models (WIMP: weakly interacting massive particles) with hidden matter masses proportional to hidden gauge couplings squared, the hidden dark matter's thermal relic density may naturally be in the right range, preserving the key quantitative virtue of WIMPs. We consider this possibility in detail. We first determine model-independent constraints on hidden sectors from big bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background. Contrary to conventional wisdom, large hidden sectors are easily accommodated. A flavour-free version of the standard model is allowed if the hidden sector is just 30% colder than the observable sector after reheating. Alternatively, if the hidden sector contains a one-generation version of the standard model with characteristic mass scale below 1 MeV, even identical reheating temperatures are allowed. We then analyse hidden sector freeze-out in detail for a concrete model, solving the Boltzmann equation numerically and explaining the results from both observable and hidden sector points of view. We find that WIMPless dark matter does indeed obtain the correct relic density for masses in the range . The upper bound results from the requirement of perturbativity, and the lower bound assumes that the observable and hidden sectors reheat to the same temperature, and is raised to the MeV scale if the hidden sector is ten times colder. WIMPless dark matter therefore generalizes the WIMP paradigm to the largest mass range possible for viable thermal relics and provides a unified framework for exploring dark matter signals across nine orders of magnitude in dark matter mass.
119204000
Hidden charged dark matter
Can dark matter be stabilized by charge conservation, just as the electron is in the standard model? We examine the possibility that dark matter is hidden, that is, neutral under all standard model gauge interactions, but charged under an exact {\rm U}(1) gauge symmetry of the hidden sector. Such candidates are predicted in WIMPless models, supersymmetric models in which hidden dark matter has the desired thermal relic density for a wide range of masses. Hidden charged dark matter has many novel properties not shared by neutral dark matter: (1) bound state formation and Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation after chemical freeze out may reduce its relic density, (2) similar effects greatly enhance dark matter annihilation in protohalos at redshifts of z ~ 30, (3) Compton scattering off hidden photons delays kinetic decoupling, suppressing small scale structure, and (4) Rutherford scattering makes such dark matter self-interacting and collisional, potentially impacting properties of the Bullet Cluster and the observed morphology of galactic halos. We analyze all of these effects in a WIMPless model in which the hidden sector is a simplified version of the minimal supersymmetric standard model and the dark matter is a hidden sector stau. We find that charged hidden dark matter is viable and consistent with the correct relic density for reasonable model parameters and dark matter masses in the range 1 GeV  mX  10 TeV. At the same time, in the preferred range of parameters, this model predicts cores in the dark matter halos of small galaxies and other halo properties that may be within the reach of future observations. These models therefore provide a viable and well-motivated framework for collisional dark matter with Sommerfeld enhancement, with novel implications for astrophysics and dark matter searches.
119367982
An SO(10) GUT Model with $S4$ Flavor Symmetry
We present a supersymmetric grand unification model based on SO(10) group with $S4$ flavor symmetry. In this model, the fermion masses are from Yukawa couplings involving $\bf{10}$ and $\bar{\bf{126}}$ Higgs multiplets and the flavor structures of mass matrices of both quarks and leptons are determined by spontaneously broken $S4$. This model fits all of the masses and mixing angles of the quarks and leptons. For the most general CP-violation scenario, this model gives $\sin\theta_{13}$ a wide range of values from zero to the current bound with the most probable values $0.02-0.09$. With certain assumptions where leptonic phases have same CP-violation source as CKM phase, one gets a narrower range $0.03-0.09$ for $\sin\theta_{13}$ with the most probable values $0.04-0.08$. This model gives leptonic Dirac CP phase the most probable values 2-4 radians in the general CP-violation case.
122880432
The mass relation between the pure and physical ground pseudoscalar glueballs
The experimental information indicates that for the ground pseudoscalar states, the omission of the transition amplitudes between quarkonia can result in the unreasonable result. It is believed that the mass of the pure glueball employed in the general form of the mass matrix is different from the mass predicted by lattice QCD in quenched approximation for the ground pseudoscalar glueball. The mass relation between the pure and physical ground pseudoscalar glueballs is determined from the experimental data.
56302693
Position-dependent energy-level shifts of an accelerated atom in the presence of a boundary
We consider a uniformly accelerated atom interacting with a vacuum electromagnetic field in the presence of an infinite conducting plane boundary and calculate separately the contributions of vacuum fluctuations and radiation reaction to the atomic energy level shift. We analyze in detail the behavior of the total energy shift in three different regimes of the distance in both the low acceleration and high acceleration limits. Our results show that, in general, an accelerated atom does not behave as if immersed in a thermal bath at the Unruh temperature in terms of the atomic energy level shifts, and the effect of the acceleration on the atomic energy level shifts may in principle become appreciable in certain circumstances, although it may not be realistic for actual experimental measurements. We also examine the effects of the acceleration on the level shifts when the acceleration is of the order of the transition frequency of the atom and we find some features differ from what was obtained in the existing literature.
119222434
Quantum Modifications to Gravity Waves in de Sitter Spacetime
We treat a model in which tensor perturbations of de Sitter spacetime, represented as a spatially flat model, are modified by the effects of the vacuum fluctuations of a massless conformally invariant field, such as the electromagnetic field. We use the semiclassical theory of gravity with the expectation value of the conformal field stress tensor as a source. We first study the stability of de Sitter spacetime by searching for growing, spatially homogeneous modes, and conclude that it is stable within the limits of validity of the semiclassical theory. We next examine the modification of linearized plane gravity waves by the effects of the quantum stress tensor. We find a correction term which is of the same form as the original wave, but displaced in phase by {pi}/2, and with an amplitude which depends upon an initial time. The magnitude of this effect is proportional to the change in scale factor after this time. We discuss alternative interpretations of this time, but pay particular attention to the view that this is the beginning of inflation. So long as the energy scale of inflation and the proper frequency of the mode at the beginning of inflation are well below the Planckmore » scale, the fractional correction is small. However, modes which are trans-Planckian at the onset of inflation can undergo a significant correction. The increase in amplitude can potentially have observable consequences through a modification of the power spectrum of tensor perturbations in inflationary cosmology. This enhancement of the power spectrum depends upon the initial time, and is greater for shorter wavelengths.« less
121894803
Hidden local symmetry and induced topological terms
Abstract Extending the previous derivation of an effective gauge theory from a generalized Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, we show how the topological θ-term, θ Tr F F , can be generated dynamically in a similar fashion. These results provide a vivid demonstration of hidden local symmetry at work. Possible phenomenological implications of this approach are also discussed.
18839348
Averaged energy conditions in 4D evaporating black hole backgrounds
Using Visser's semianalytical model for the stress-energy tensor corresponding to the conformally coupled massless scalar field in the Unruh vacuum, we examine, by explicitly evaluating the relevant integrals over half-complete geodesics, the averaged weak and averaged null energy conditions along with Ford-Roman quantum inequality-type restrictions on negative energy in the context of four-dimensional evaporating black hole backgrounds. We find that in all cases where the averaged energy conditions fail, there exist quantum inequality bounds on the magnitude and duration of negative energy densities.