55262459
Effects of Inhomogeneity on the Causal Entropic prediction of Lambda
The causal entropic principle aims to predict the unexpectedly small value of the cosmological constant Lambda using a weighting by entropy increase on causal diamonds. The original work assumed a purely isotropic and homogeneous cosmology. But even the level of inhomogeneity observed in our universe forces reconsideration of certain arguments about entropy production. In particular, we must consider an ensemble of causal diamonds associated with one cosmology, and we can no longer immediately discard entropy production in the far future of the universe. Depending on our choices for a probability measure and our treatment of black hole evaporation, the prediction for Lambda may be left intact or dramatically altered.
119183013
Curvature Constraints from the Causal Entropic Principle
Current cosmological observations indicate a preference for a cosmological constant that is drastically smaller than what can be explained by conventional particle physics. The causal entropic principle (Bousso et al.) provides an alternative approach to anthropic attempts to predict our observed value of the cosmological constant by calculating the entropy created within a causal diamond. We have extended this work to use the causal entropic principle to predict the preferred curvature within the 'multiverse'. We have found that values larger than {rho}{sub k}=40{rho}{sub m} are disfavored by more than 99.99% peak value at {rho}{sub {lambda}}=7.9x10{sup -123} and {rho}{sub k}=4.3{rho}{sub m} for open universes. For universes that allow only positive curvature or both positive and negative curvature, we find a correlation between curvature and dark energy that leads to an extended region of preferred values. Our universe is found to be disfavored to an extent depending on the priors on curvature. We also provide a comparison to previous anthropic constraints on open universes and discuss future directions for this work.
118392481
Holographic bounds and finite inflation
We compare two holographic arguments that impose especially strong bounds on the amount of inflation. One comes from the de Sitter Equilibrium cosmology and the other from the work of Banks and Fischler. We find that simple versions of these two approaches yield the same bound on the number of e-foldings. A careful examination reveals that while these pictures are similar in spirit, they are not necessarily identical prescriptions. We apply the two pictures to specific cosmologies which expose potentially important differences and which also demonstrate ways these seemingly simple proposals can be tricky to implement in practice.
119202837
Bayesian Methods for Parameter Estimation in Effective Field Theories
Abstract We demonstrate and explicate Bayesian methods for fitting the parameters that encode the impact of short-distance physics on observables in effective field theories (EFTs). We use Bayes’ theorem together with the principle of maximum entropy to account for the prior information that these parameters should be natural, i.e. O(1) in appropriate units. Marginalization can then be employed to integrate the resulting probability density function (pdf) over the EFT parameters that are not of specific interest in the fit. We also explore marginalization over the order of the EFT calculation, M , and over the variable, R, that encodes the inherent ambiguity in the notion that these parameters are O(1). This results in a very general formula for the pdf of the EFT parameters of interest given a data set, D. We use this formula and the simpler “augmented χ2” in a toy problem for which we generate pseudo-data. These Bayesian methods, when used in combination with the “naturalness prior”, facilitate reliable extractions of EFT parameters in cases where χ2 methods are ambiguous at best. We also examine the problem of extracting the nucleon mass in the chiral limit, M0, and the nucleon sigma term, from pseudo-data on the nucleon mass as a function of the pion mass. We find that Bayesian techniques can provide reliable information on M0, even if some of the data points used for the extraction lie outside the region of applicability of the EFT.
119267197
One- and Two-Neutron Halos in Effective Field Theory
I discuss recent work our group has undertaken on effective-field-theory analyses of experimental data pertaining to one- and two-neutron halo nuclei.
53550289
Analyzing the effects of neutron polarizabilities in elastic Compton scattering off 3He
Abstract Motivated by the fact that a polarized 3He nucleus is expected to behave approximately as a polarized neutron, we examine manifestations of neutron electromagnetic polarizabilities in elastic Compton scattering from the Helium-3 nucleus. We calculate both unpolarized and double-polarization observables using chiral perturbation theory to next-to-leading order ( O ( e 2 Q ) ) at energies, ω ≲ m π , where m π is the pion mass. Our results show that the unpolarized differential cross-section can be used to measure neutron electric and magnetic polarizabilities, while two double-polarization observables are sensitive to different linear combinations of the four neutron spin polarizabilities.