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Chris Kouvaris

Publications and source records attributed to Chris Kouvaris.

70 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Zero Sound in Neutron Stars with Dense Quark Matter under Strong Magnetic Fields

We study a neutron star with a quark matter core under extremely strong magnetic fields. We investigate the possibility of an Urca process as a mechanism for the cooling of such a star. We found that apart from very particular cases, the Urca process cannot occur. We also study the stability of zero sound modes under the same conditions. We derive limits for the coupling constant of an effective theory, in order the zero sound to be undamped. We show that zero sound modes can help kinematically to facilitate a cooling process.

astro-ph.SR↗

The Dark Side of Strongly Coupled Theories

We investigate the constraints of dark matter search experiments on the different candidates emerging from the minimal quasi-conformal strong coupling theory with fermions in the adjoint representation. For one candidate, the current limits of CDMS exclude a tiny window of masses around 120 GeV. We also investigate under what circumstances the newly proposed candidate composed of a -2 negatively charged particle and a $^4He^{+2}$ can explain the discrepancy between the results of the CDMS and DAMA experiments. We found that this type of dark matter should give negative results in CDMS, while it can trigger the detectors of DAMA, if a condition between the mass and the binding energy of the -2 particle with the nucleus of the detector is satisfied.

hep-ph↗

Composite dark matter from a model with composite Higgs boson

In a previous paper \cite{Khlopov:2007ic}, we showed how the minimal walking technicolor model (WTC) can provide a composite dark matter candidate, by forming bound states between a -2 electrically charged techniparticle and a $^4He^{++}$. We studied the properties of these \emph{techni-O-helium} $tOHe$ "atoms", which behave as warmer dark matter rather than cold. In this paper we extend our work on several different aspects. We study the possibility of a mixed scenario where both $tOHe$ and bound states between +2 and -2 electrically charged techniparticles coexist in the dark matter density. We argue that these newly proposed bound states solely made of techniparticles, although they behave as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), due to their large elastic cross section with nuclei, can only account for a small percentage of the dark matter density. Therefore we conclude that within the minimal WTC, composite dark matter should be mostly composed of $tOHe$. Moreover in this paper, we put cosmological bounds in the masses of the techniparticles, if they compose the dark matter density. Finally we propose within this setup, a possible explanation of the discrepancy between the DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA findings and the negative results of CDMS and other direct dark matter searches that imply nuclear recoil measurement, which should accompany ionization.

astro-ph↗

Generalised bottom-up holography and walking technicolour

In extradimensional holographic approaches the flavour symmetry is gauged in the bulk, that is, treated as a local symmetry. Imposing such a local symmetry admits fewer terms coupling the (axial) vectors and (pseudo)scalars than if a global symmetry is imposed. The latter is the case in standard low-energy effective Lagrangians. Here we incorporate these additional, a priori only globally invariant terms into a holographic treatment by means of a Stueckelberg completion and alternatively by means of a Legendre transformation. This work was motivated by our investigations concerning dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking by walking technicolour and we apply our findings to these theories.

hep-ph↗

Constraining vectors and axial-vectors in walking technicolour by a holographic principle

We use a holographic principle to study the low-energy spectrum of walking technicolour models. In particular, we predict the masses of the axial vectors as well as the decay constants of vectors and axial vectors as functions of the mass of the techni-rho. Given that there are very few nonperturbative techniques to study strongly coupled theories, using holography might provide us with insight into how to constrain the parameters of the low-energy effective action of walking technicolour models. We also compare our results with findings from other setups.

hep-ph↗

Strong Interactive Massive Particles from a Strong Coupled Theory

Minimal walking technicolor models can provide a nontrivial solution for cosmological dark matter, if the lightest technibaryon is doubly charged. Technibaryon asymmetry generated in the early Universe is related to baryon asymmetry and it is possible to create excess of techniparticles with charge (-2). These excessive techniparticles are all captured by $^4He$, creating \emph{techni-O-helium} $tOHe$ ``atoms'', as soon as $^4He$ is formed in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. The interaction of techni-O-helium with nuclei opens new paths to the creation of heavy nuclei in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Due to the large mass of technibaryons, the $tOHe$ ``atomic'' gas decouples from the baryonic matter and plays the role of dark matter in large scale structure formation, while structures in small scales are suppressed. Nuclear interactions with matter slow down cosmic techni-O-helium in Earth below the threshold of underground dark matter detectors, thus escaping severe CDMS constraints. On the other hand, these nuclear interactions are not sufficiently strong to exclude this form of Strongly Interactive Massive Particles by constraints from the XQC experiment. Experimental tests of this hypothesis are possible in search for $tOHe$ in balloon-borne experiments (or on the ground) and for its charged techniparticle constituents in cosmic rays and accelerators. The $tOHe$ ``atoms'' can cause cold nuclear transformations in matter and might form anomalous isotopes, offering possible ways to exclude (or prove?) their existence.

astro-ph↗

WIMP Annihilation and Cooling of Neutron Stars

We study the effect of WIMP annihilation on the temperature of a neutron star. We shall argue that the released energy due to WIMP annihilation inside the neutron stars, might affect the temperature of stars older than 10 million years, flattening out the temperature at $\sim 10^4$ K for a typical neutron star.

astro-ph↗

Dark Majorana Particles from the Minimal Walking Technicolor

We investigate the possibility of a dark matter candidate emerging from a minimal walking technicolor theory. In this case techniquarks as well as technigluons transform under the adjoint representation of SU(2) of technicolor. It is therefore possible to have technicolor neutral bound states between a techniquark and a technigluon. We investigate this scenario by assuming that such a particle can have a Majorana mass and we calculate the relic density. We identify the parameter space where such an object can account for the full dark matter density avoiding constraints imposed by the CDMS and the LEP experiments.

hep-ph↗

Towards Working Technicolor: Effective Theories and Dark Matter

A fifth force, of technicolor type, responsible for breaking the electroweak theory is an intriguing extension of the Standard Model. Recently new theories have been shown to feature walking dynamics for a very low number of techniflavors and are not ruled out by electroweak precision measurements. We identify the light degrees of freedom and construct the associated low energy effective theories. These can be used to study signatures and relevant processes in current and future experiments. In our theory the technibaryons are pseudo Goldstone bosons and their masses arise via extended technicolor interactions. There are hypercharge assignments for the techniquarks which renders one of the technibaryons electrically neutral. We investigate the cosmological implications of this scenario and provide a component of dark matter.

hep-ph↗

Single transverse-spin asymmetry in high transverse momentum pion production in pp collisions

We study the single-spin (left-right) asymmetry in single-inclusive pion production in hadronic scattering. This asymmetry is power-suppressed in the transverse momentum of the produced pion and can be analyzed in terms of twist-three parton correlation functions in the proton. We present new calculations of the corresponding partonic hard-scattering functions that include the so-called "non-derivative" contributions not previously considered in the literature. We find a remarkably simple structure of the results. We also present a brief phenomenological study of the spin asymmetry, taking into account data from fixed-target scattering and also the latest information available from RHIC. We make additional predictions that may be tested experimentally at RHIC.

hep-ph↗

Dark Matter from new Technicolor Theories

We investigate dark matter candidates emerging in recently proposed technicolor theories. We determine the relic density of the lightest, neutral, stable technibaryon having imposed weak thermal equilibrium conditions and overall electric neutrality of the Universe. In addition we consider sphaleron processes that violate baryon, lepton and technibaryon number. Our analysis is performed in the case of a first order electroweak phase transition as well as a second order one. We argue that, in both cases, the new technibaryon contributes to the dark matter in the Universe. Finally we examine the problem of the constraints on these types of dark matter components from earth based experiments.

hep-ph↗

A Hot Water Bottle for Aging Neutron Stars

The gapless color-flavor locked (gCFL) phase is the second-densest phase of matter in the QCD phase diagram, making it a plausible constituent of the core of neutron stars. We show that even a relatively small region of gCFL matter in a star will dominate both the heat capacity C_V and the heat loss by neutrino emission L_ν. The gCFL phase is characterized by an unusual quasiparticle dispersion relation that makes both its specific heat c_V and its neutrino emissivity epsilon_νparametrically larger than in any other phase of nuclear or quark matter. During the epoch in which the cooling of the star is dominated by direct Urca neutrino emission, the presence of a gCFL region does not strongly alter the cooling history because the enhancements of C_V and L_νcancel against each other. At late times, however, the cooling is dominated by photon emission from the surface, so L_νis irrelevant, and the anomalously large heat capacity of the gCFL region keeps the star warm. The temperature drops with time as T\sim t^{-1.4} rather than the canonical T\sim t^{-5}. This provides a unique and potentially observable signature of gCFL quark matter.

astro-ph↗

Heating (Gapless) Color-Flavor Locked Quark Matter

We explore the phase diagram of neutral quark matter at high baryon density as a function of the temperature T and the strange quark mass Ms. At T=0, there is a sharp distinction between the insulating color-flavor locked (CFL) phase, which occurs where Ms^2/mu < 2 Delta, and the metallic gapless CFL phase, which occurs at larger Ms^2/mu. Here, mu is the chemical potential for quark number and Delta is the gap in the CFL phase. We find this distinction blurred at nonzero T, as the CFL phase undergoes an insulator-to-metal crossover when it is heated. We present an analytic treatment of this crossover. At higher temperatures, we map out the phase transition lines at which the gap parameters Delta_1, Delta_2 and Delta_3 describing ds-pairing, us-pairing and ud-pairing respectively, go to zero in an NJL model. For small values of Ms^2/mu, we find that Delta_2 vanishes first, then Delta_1, then Delta_3. We find agreement with a previous Ginzburg-Landau analysis of the form of these transitions and find quantitative agreement with results obtained in full QCD at asymptotic density for ratios of coefficients in the Ginzburg-Landau potential. At larger Ms^2/mu, we find that Delta_1 vanishes first, then Delta_2, then Delta_3. Hence, we find a "doubly critical'' point in the (Ms^2/mu,T)-plane at which two lines of second order phase transitions (Delta_1->0 and Delta_2->0) cross. Because we do not make any small-Ms approximation, if we choose a relatively strong coupling leading to large gap parameters, we are able to pursue the analysis of the phase diagram all the way up to such large values of Ms that there are no strange quarks present.

hep-ph↗

Evaluating the Gapless Color-Flavor Locked Phase

In neutral cold quark matter that is sufficiently dense that the strange quark mass M_s is unimportant, all nine quarks (three colors; three flavors) pair in a color-flavor locked (CFL) pattern, and all fermionic quasiparticles have a gap. We recently argued that the next phase down in density (as a function of decreasing quark chemical potential mu or increasing strange quark mass M_s) is the new ``gapless CFL'' (``gCFL'') phase in which only seven quasiparticles have a gap, while there are gapless quasiparticles described by two dispersion relations at three momenta. There is a continuous quantum phase transition from CFL to gCFL quark matter at M_s^2/mu approximately equal to 2*Delta, with Delta the gap parameter. Gapless CFL, like CFL, leaves unbroken a linear combination "Q-tilde" of electric and color charges, but it is a Q-tilde-conductor with gapless Q-tilde-charged quasiparticles and a nonzero electron density. In this paper, we evaluate the gapless CFL phase, in several senses. We present the details underlying our earlier work which showed how this phase arises. We display all nine quasiparticle dispersion relations in full detail. Using a general pairing ansatz that only neglects effects that are known to be small, we perform a comparison of the free energies of the gCFL, CFL, 2SC, gapless 2SC, and 2SCus phases. We conclude that as density drops, making the CFL phase less favored, the gCFL phase is the next spatially uniform quark matter phase to occur. A mixed phase made of colored components would have lower free energy if color were a global symmetry, but in QCD such a mixed phase is penalized severely.

hep-ph↗

Gapless CFL and its competition with mixed phases

We recently argued that as the density of quark matter decreases, there is a continuous transition from the color-flavor-locked (CFL) phase to a gapless "gCFL" phase. The reason is the growing importance of the strange quark mass, and the constraint of electric/color neutrality. In this paper we discuss mixed phases that achieve neutrality by charge seperation, and might offer an alternative to the gCFL phase. We find that none of the obvious mixtures is favored relative to gCFL.

hep-ph↗

Gapless Color-Flavor-Locked Quark Matter

In neutral cold quark matter that is sufficiently dense that the strange quark mass M_s is unimportant, all nine quarks (three colors; three flavors) pair in a color-flavor locked (CFL) pattern, and all fermionic quasiparticles have a gap. We argue that as a function of decreasing quark chemical potential mu or increasing M_s, there is a quantum phase transition from the CFL phase to a new ``gapless CFL phase'' in which only seven quasiparticles have a gap. The transition occurs where M_s^2/mu is approximately equal to 2*Delta, with Delta the gap parameter. Gapless CFL, like CFL, leaves unbroken a linear combination Qtilde of electric and color charges, but it is a Qtilde-conductor with a nonzero electron density. These electrons and the gapless quark quasiparticles make the low energy effective theory of the gapless CFL phase and, consequently, its astrophysical properties are qualitatively different from those of the CFL phase, even though its U(1) symmetries are the same. Both gapless quasiparticles have quadratic dispersion relations at the quantum critical point. For values of M_s^2/mu above the quantum critical point, one branch has conventional linear dispersion relations while the other branch remains quadratic, up to tiny corrections.

hep-ph↗