122788257
Moduli Trapping and String Gas Cosmology
In this talk I will discuss the role of finite temperature quantum corrections in string cosmology and show that they can lead to a stabilization mechanism for the volume moduli. I will show that from the higher dimensional perspective this results from the effect of states of enhanced symmetry on the one-loop free energy. These states lead not only to stabilization, but also suggest an alternative model for ΛCDM. At late times, when the low energy effective field theory gives the appropriate description of the dynamics, the moduli will begin to slow-roll and stabilization will generically fail. However, stabilization can be recovered by considering cosmological particle production near the points of enhanced symmetry leading to the process known as moduli trapping.
119378175
Stabilization of extra dimensions at tree level
By considering the effects of string winding and momentum modes on a time dependent background, we find a method by which six compact dimensions become stabilized naturally at the self-dual radius while three dimensions grow large.
33688144
Is the PAMELA Positron Excess Winos
Recently the PAMELA satellite-based experiment reported an excess of galactic positrons that could be a signal of annihilating dark matter. The PAMELA data may admit an interpretation as a signal from a winolike lightest supersymmetric particle of mass about 200 GeV, normalized to the local relic density, and annihilating mainly into W bosons. This possibility requires the current conventional estimate for the energy loss rate of positrons to be too large by roughly a factor of 5. Data from antiprotons and gamma rays also provide tension with this interpretation, but there are significant astrophysical uncertainties associated with their propagation. It is not unreasonable to take this well-motivated candidate seriously, at present, in part because it can be tested in several ways soon. The forthcoming PAMELA data on higher energy positrons and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (formerly the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope) data should provide important clues as to whether this scenario is correct. If correct, the wino interpretation implies a cosmological history in which the dark matter does not originate in thermal equilibrium.
14165857
Cosmological moduli dynamics
Low energy effective actions arising from string theory typically contain many scalar fields, some with a very complicated potential and others with no potential at all. The evolution of these scalars is of great interest. Their late time values have a direct impact on low energy observables, while their early universe dynamics can potentially source inflation or adversely affect big bang nucleosynthesis. Recently, classical and quantum methods for fixing the values of these scalars have been introduced. The purpose of this work is to explore moduli dynamics in light of these stabilization mechanisms. In particular, we explore a truncated low energy effective action that models the neighborhood of special points (or more generally loci) in moduli space, such as conifold points, where extra massless degrees of freedom arise. We find that the dynamics has a surprisingly rich structure — including the appearance of chaos — and we find a viable mechanism for trapping some of the moduli.
117013647
String gases in the early universe
118503178
Supersymmetry, nonthermal dark matter, and precision cosmology
Within the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), LHC bounds suggest that scalar superpartner masses are far above the electroweak scale. Given a high superpartner mass, nonthermal dark matter is a viable alternative to WIMP dark matter generated via freezeout. In the presence of moduli fields, nonthermal dark matter production is associated with a long matter-dominated phase, modifying the spectral index and primordial tensor amplitude relative to those in a thermalized primordial universe. Nonthermal dark matter can have a higher self-interaction cross section than its thermal counterpart, enhancing astrophysical bounds on its annihilation signals. We constrain the contributions to the neutralino mass from the bino, wino and Higgsino using existing astrophysical bounds and direct detection experiments for models with nonthermal neutralino dark matter. Using these constraints we quantify the expected change to inflationary observables resulting from the nonthermal phase.
110769680
THE INFLUENCE OF INELASTIC CHANNELS UPON THE POLE STRUCTURE OF PW IN THE COUPLED CHANNEL πN PWA
122590503
PROGRESS REPORT FOR A NEW KARLSRUHE-HELSINKI TYPE PION-NUCLEON PARTIAL WAVE ANALYSIS
121630089
Resolution of the multichannel anomaly in the extraction of S-matrix resonance-pole parameters
Within the framework of a mathematically well-defined coupled-channel T-matrix model we have improved the existing multichannel pole-extraction procedure based on the numerical analytic continuation of the channel propagator, and for the first time we present the full set of pole parameters for already published amplitudes. Standard single-channel pole-extraction method (speed plot) was then applied to those amplitudes and resulting sets of T-matrix poles were inspected. The anomaly has been established that in some partial waves the pole values extracted using the standard single-channel methods differ not only from the values obtained using the analytic continuation method, but also change from one reaction to another. Inspired by this peculiarity, we have developed a new single-channel pole-extraction method based solely on the assumption of the partial wave analyticity. Since the speed plot turns out to be the lowest order term of the proposed method, the anomaly is understood and resolved.