109933831
New formulation of Horava–Lifshitz quantum gravity as a master constraint theory
Abstract Both projectable and non-projectable versions of Horava–Lifshitz gravity face serious challenges. In the non-projectable version, the constraint algebra is seemingly inconsistent. The projectable version lacks a local Hamiltonian constraint, thus allowing for an extra scalar mode which can be problematic. A new formulation of non-projectable Horava–Lifshitz gravity, naturally realized as a representation of the master constraint algebra studied by loop quantum gravity researchers, is presented. This yields a consistent canonical theory with first class constraints. It captures the essence of Horava–Lifshitz gravity in retaining only spatial diffeomorphisms (instead of full space–time covariance) as the physically relevant non-trivial gauge symmetry; at the same time the local Hamiltonian constraint needed to eliminate the extra mode is equivalently enforced by the master constraint.
34810684
Restudy of the open-superstring tree amplitudes by looking at their field-theoretical limits.
We carry out complete computations of some open- and closed-superstring tree amplitudes by using the bosonized covariant vertices. Some open-superstring amplitudes so obtained are shown to be different from those obtained in the light-cone gauge approach by some numerical factors. The low-energy limits of our five open-superstring amplitudes are then shown to match the five super Yang-Mills field amplitudes while the five light-cone gauge open-superstring amplitudes fail to do so.
120093276
CONSISTENT FACTORIZATION AND TWIST-3 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE POLARIZED NUCLEON STRUCTURE FUNCTION g2(x,Q2)
Quark mass effects are clarified in the parton model approach to the transversely polarized nucleon structure function. The special propagator technique is employed to obtain manifestly gauge invariant results and extract the buried short-distance contributions inside the soft part after momentum factorization in the collinear expansion approach. A generalized massive special propagator for a massive quark is constructed. We identify the corresponding matrix elements of the transversely polarized structure function in deep inelastic scattering by the massive special propagator technique.
36067168
Dimensional regularization and perturbative solution of the chiral Schwinger model.
The anomalous chiral Schwinger model is regulated by the method of dimensional regularization and is solved by diagrammatic perturbative expansion. It is shown that there is a regulation ambiguity in the solution. The result disagrees with Das's assertion and agrees with that of Jackiw, Rajaraman, and others.
13594754
Heavy-flavor-conserving nonleptonic weak decays of heavy baryons.
The heavy-flavor-conserving nonleptonic weak decays of heavy baryons are studied in a formalism that incorporates both heavy-quark symmetry and chiral symmetry. The phenomenological {Delta}{ital S}=1 nonleptonic weak chiral Lagrangian for these transitions contains two independent coupling constants that describe the transitions between two flavor-SU(3) antitriplet heavy baryons, and the transitions between two flavor-SU(3) sextet heavy baryons. In the MIT bag model and the diquark model, only transitions between antitriplets are allowed. The coupling constants for these transitions are calculated in both models. The result is applied to specific nonleptonic decays such as {Xi}{sub {ital c}}{r arrow}{Lambda}{sub {ital c}}{pi}, and the branching ratios are found to be of the order of 10{sup {minus}4}. An example of a nonleptonic decay due to symmetry breaking is provided by {Omega}{sub {ital c}}{r arrow}{Xi}{sub {ital c}}{sup {prime}}{pi}, which is estimated to have a smaller branching ratio, of the order of 10{sup {minus}5}.
10063732
Effective Lagrangian approach to weak radiative decays of heavy hadrons.
Motivated by the observation of the decay B\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}K${\mathrm{\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$\ensuremath{\gamma} by the CLEO Collaboration, we have systematically analyzed the two-body weak radiative decays of bottom and charmed hadrons. There exist two types of weak radiative decays: One proceeds through the short-distance b\ensuremath{\rightarrow}s\ensuremath{\gamma} transition and the other occurs through W exchange accompanied by a photon emission. Effective Lagrangians are derived for the W-exchange bremsstrahlung processes at the quark level and then applied to various weak electromagnetic decays of heavy hadrons. Predictions for the branching ratios of B${\mathrm{\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathit{D}}^{\mathrm{*}0}$\ensuremath{\gamma}, ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{\mathit{b}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}}_{\mathit{c}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\gamma}, ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}}_{\mathit{b}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}}_{\mathit{c}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\gamma}, and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}}_{\mathit{b}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\Xi}${\mathcal{'}}_{\mathit{b}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\gamma} are given. In particular, we find scrB(B${\mathrm{\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathit{D}}^{\mathrm{*}0}$\ensuremath{\gamma})\ensuremath{\approxeq}0.9\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}6}$. Order of magnitude estimates for the weak radiative decays of charmed hadrons, ${\mathit{D}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}K${\mathrm{\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}}}^{\mathrm{*}0}$\ensuremath{\gamma}, ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{\mathit{c}}^{+}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}}^{+}$\ensuremath{\gamma}, and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}}_{\mathit{c}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\gamma}, are also presented. Within this approach, the decay asymmetry for antitriplet to antitriplet heavy baryon weak radiative transitions is uniquely predicted by heavy quark symmetry. The electromagnetic penguin contribution to ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{\mathit{b}}^{0}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\Lambda}\ensuremath{\gamma} is estimated by two different methods and its branching ratio is found to be of the order of 1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}5}$. We conclude that weak radiative decays of bottom hadrons are dominated by the short-distance b\ensuremath{\rightarrow}s\ensuremath{\gamma} mechanism.
119646085
Do static atoms outside a Schwarzschild black hole spontaneously excite
The spontaneous excitation of a two-level atom held static outside a four dimensional Schwarzschild black hole and in interaction with a massless scalar field in the Boulware, Unruh, and Hartle-Hawking vacuums is investigated, and the contributions of the vacuum fluctuations and radiation reaction to the rate of change of the mean atomic energy are calculated separately. We find that, for the Boulware vacuum, the spontaneous excitation does not occur and the ground-state atoms are stable, while the spontaneous emission rate for excited atoms in the Boulware vacuum, which is well behaved at the event horizon, is not the same as that in the usual Minkowski vacuum. However, for both the Unruh vacuum and the Hartle-Hawking vacuum, our results show that the atom would spontaneously excite, as if there were an outgoing thermal flux of radiation or as if it were in a thermal bath of radiation at a proper temperature which reduces to the Hawking temperature in the spatial asymptotic region, depending on whether the scalar field is in the Unruh or Hartle-Hawking vacuum.
17177636
Quantum Gravity and Astrophysics: The Microwave Background and Other Thermal Sources
The problem of formulating a fully consistent quantum gravity theory (QGT) has not yet been solved. Even before we are able to work out the details of a complete theory, however, we do know some important qualitative features to be expected in any quantum theory. Fluctuations of the metric, for example, are expected and are associated with fluctuations of the lightcone. Lightcone fluctuations affect the arrival time of signals from distant sources in potentially measurable ways, broadening the spectra. In this paper, we start with a thermal spectrum and derive the form of spectral changes expected in a wide class of QGTs. We apply these results, valid for any thermal spectrum, to the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The CMB offers two advantages: (1) deviations from a thermal spectrum are well constrained, and (2) the radiation emanates from the most distant source of light, the surface of last scattering. We use existing CMB data to derive an upper bound on the value of $\Delta t,$ the mean spread in arrival times due to metric fluctuations: ${\Delta t} < 2.1 \times 10^{-14}$ s at the 95% confidence limit. This limit applies to a wide range of QGTs, and falsifies those predicting a larger spread in arrival times. We find this limit rules out at least one QGT, the 5-dimensional theory in which the "extra" dimension is flat. Tests of other models may also be possible, depending on the results of calculations to predict values of \Delta t,$ and also a second time scale, $\tau_c,$ the correlation time, which is the characteristic time scale of the metric fluctuations. We show that stronger limits on the value of $\Delta t,$ hence on lightcone fluctuations, can likely be derived through observations of of higher-T sources, e.g., in the X-ray and gamma-ray regimes.
120750405
Mass renormalization at finite temperature and random motion of an electron driven by quantum electromagnetic fluctuations
119247899
Distinguishing dark matter annihilation enhancement scenarios via halo shapes
Abstract Sommerfeld enhancement and Breit–Wigner enhancement of the dark matter annihilation have been proposed to explain the “boost factor” which is suggested by observed cosmic ray excesses. Although these two scenarios can provide almost indistinguishable effects on the cosmic ray fluxes, the cross sections of the self-interaction in those enhancement mechanisms are drastically different. As a result, we might be able to distinguish them by examining the effects of the self-interaction on the dark matter halo shapes. In the Sommerfeld enhancement models with m ϕ ≲ 100 MeV and m DM ≲ 3 TeV , the self-interaction of dark matter can lead to more spherical dark halo. In the Breit–Wigner models, the dark matter is effectively collisionless.
119193312
Quantum light-cone fluctuations in compactified spacetimes
We treat the effects of compactified spatial dimensions on the propagation of light in the uncompactified directions in the context of linearized quantum gravity. We find that the flight times of pulses can fluctuate due to modification of the graviton vacuum by the compactification. In the case of a five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory, the mean variation in flight time can grow logarithmically with the flight distance. This effect is in principle observable, but too small to serve as a realistic probe of the existence of extra dimensions. This differs from the conclusion reached in an earlier work. We also examine the effect of the compactification on the widths of spectral lines, and find that there is a small line narrowing effect. This effect is also small for compactification well above the Planck scale, but might serve as a test of the existence of extra dimensions.