arXiv subjects

Christof Wetterich

Publications and source records attributed to Christof Wetterich.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

Functional renormalization for spontaneous symmetry breaking in the Hubbard model

The phases with spontaneously broken symmetries corresponding to antiferromagnetic and d-wave superconducting order in the two-dimensional t-t'-Hubbard model are investigated by means of the functional renormalization group. The introduction of composite boson fields in the magnetic, charge density and superconducting channels allows an efficient parameterization of the four-fermion vertex and the study of regimes where either the antiferromagnetic or superconducting order parameter, or both, are nonzero. We compute the phase diagram and the temperature dependence of the order parameter below the critical temperature, where antiferromagnetic and superconductiving order show a tendency of mutual exclusion.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Mass freezing in growing neutrino quintessence

Growing neutrino quintessence solves the coincidence problem for dark energy by a growing cosmological value of the neutrino mass which emerges from a cosmon-neutrino interaction stronger than gravity. The cosmon-mediated attraction between neutrinos induces the formation of large scale neutrino lumps in a recent cosmological epoch. We argue that the non-linearities in the cosmon field equations stop the further increase of the neutrino mass within sufficiently dense and large lumps. As a result, we find the neutrino induced gravitational potential to be substantially reduced when compared to linear extrapolations. We furthermore demonstrate that inside a lump the possible time variation of fundamental constants is much smaller than their cosmological evolution. This feature may reconcile current geophysical bounds with claimed cosmological variations of the fine structure constant.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Peculiar Velocity Anomaly from Forces Beyond Gravity?

We address recently reported anomalously large bulk flows on scales of 100 Mpc/h and beyond. These coherent motions of galaxies challenge the standard LCDM concordance model as well as a large class of competitive models of dark energy and modified gravity. If confirmed, they may support alternative models that include extra couplings inducing enhanced peculiar velocities on large scales. A complementary probe of the evolution of large-scale perturbations is the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect; we explore the connection between this observable and the bulk flow. For illustration, we consider a coupling between dark energy and dark matter as well as a specific cosmological model, growing neutrino quintessence.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Neutrino lumps and the Cosmic Microwave Background

The interaction between the cosmon and neutrinos may solve the "why now problem" for dark energy cosmologies. Within growing neutrino quintessence it leads to the formation of nonlinear neutrino lumps. For a test of such models by the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect for the cosmic microwave background (CMB) we estimate the size and time evolution of the gravitational potential induced by these lumps. A population of lumps with size of 100 Mpc or more could lead to observable effects on the CMB anisotropies for low angular momenta. The linear approximation is found to be invalid for the relevant length scales. Quantitative estimates depend strongly on the details of the transition between the linear and nonlinear regimes. In particular, important backreaction effects arise from the nonlinearities of the cosmon interactions. At the present stage the uncertainties of the estimate make it difficult to constrain the parameter space of growing neutrino models. We explicitly discuss scenarios and models that are compatible with the CMB observations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Very large scale structures in growing neutrino quintessence

A quintessence scalar field or cosmon interacting with neutrinos can have important effects on cosmological structure formation. Within growing neutrino models the coupling becomes effective only in recent times, when neutrinos become non-relativistic, stopping the evolution of the cosmon. This can explain why dark energy dominates the universe only in a rather recent epoch by relating the present dark energy density to the small mass of neutrinos. Such models predict the presence of stable neutrino lumps at supercluster scales (~200 Mpc and bigger), caused by an attractive force between neutrinos which is stronger than gravity and mediated by the cosmon. We present a method to follow the initial non-linear formation of neutrino lumps in physical space, by integrating numerically on a 3D grid non-linear evolution equations, until virialization naturally occurs. As a first application, we show results for cosmologies with final large neutrino average mass ~2 eV: in this case, neutrino lumps indeed form and mimic very large cold dark matter structures, with a typical gravitational potential 10^{-5} for a lump size ~10 Mpc, and reaching larger values for lumps of about 200 Mpc. A rough estimate of the cosmological gravitational potential at small k in the non-linear regime, Phi_nu = 10^{-6} (k/k_0)^{-2}, 1.2x10^{-2} h/Mpc < k_0 < 7.8x10^{-2} h/Mpc, turns out to be many orders of magnitude smaller than an extrapolation of the linear evolution of density fluctuations. The size of the neutrino-induced gravitational potential could modify the spectrum of CMB anisotropies for small angular momenta.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Too few spots in the cosmic microwave background

We investigate the abundance of large-scale hot and cold spots in the WMAP-5 temperature maps and find considerable discrepancies compared to Gaussian simulations based on the LCDM best-fit model. Too few spots are present in the reliably observed cosmic microwave background (CMB) region, i.e., outside the foreground-contaminated parts excluded by the KQ75 mask. Even simulated maps created from the original WMAP-5 estimated multipoles contain more spots than visible in the measured CMB maps. A strong suppression of the lowest multipoles would lead to better agreement. The lack of spots is reflected in a low mean temperature fluctuation on scales of several degrees (4 to 8), which is only shared by less than 1% (0.16%-0.62%) of Gaussian LCDM simulations. After removing the quadrupole, the probabilities change to 2.5%-8.0%. This shows the importance of the anomalously low quadrupole for the statistical significance of the missing spots. We also analyze a possible violation of Gaussianity or statistical isotropy (spots are distributed differently outside and inside the masked region).

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Asymptotic safety of gravity and the Higgs boson mass

There are indications that gravity is asymptotically safe. The Standard Model (SM) plus gravity could be valid up to arbitrarily high energies. Supposing that this is indeed the case and assuming that there are no intermediate energy scales between the Fermi and Planck scales we address the question of whether the mass of the Higgs boson $m_H$ can be predicted. For a positive gravity induced anomalous dimension $A_λ>0$ the running of the quartic scalar self interaction $λ$ at scales beyond the Planck mass is determined by a fixed point at zero. This results in $m_H=m_{\rm min}=126$ GeV, with only a few GeV uncertainty. This prediction is independent of the details of the short distance running and holds for a wide class of extensions of the SM as well. For $A_λ<0$ one finds $m_H$ in the interval $m_{\rm min}< m_H < m_{\rm max}\simeq 174$ GeV, now sensitive to $A_λ$ and other properties of the short distance running. The case $A_λ>0$ is favored by explicit computations existing in the literature.

hep-th↗

arXiv2009

Growing neutrino cosmology

In growing neutrino models, the neutrino mass increases in time and stops the dynamical evolution of a dark energy scalar field, thus explaining the 'why now' problem. A new attractive force, mediated by the 'cosmon' scalar field, makes non relativistic neutrino form lumps on the scales of superclusters and beyond. Nonlinear neutrino lumps are predicted to form at redshift z ~ 1 and, if observed, could be an indication for a new attractive force stronger than gravity.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Clustering in growing neutrino cosmologies

We show that growing neutrino models, in which the growing neutrino mass stops the dynamical evolution of a dark energy scalar field, lead to a substantial neutrino clustering on the scales of superclusters. Nonlinear neutrino lumps form at redshift z ~ 1 and could partially drag the clustering of dark matter. If observed, large scale non-linear structures could be an indication for a new attractive force stronger than gravity and mediated by the 'cosmon' dark energy scalar field.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2008

Competing bounds on the present-day time variation of fundamental constants

We compare the sensitivity of a recent bound on time variation of the fine structure constant from optical clocks with bounds on time varying fundamental constants from atomic clocks sensitive to the electron-to-proton mass ratio, from radioactive decay rates in meteorites, and from the Oklo natural reactor. Tests of the Weak Equivalence Principle also lead to comparable bounds on present variations of constants. The "winner in sensitivity" depends on what relations exist between the variations of different couplings in the standard model of particle physics, which may arise from the unification of gauge interactions. WEP tests are currently the most sensitive within unified scenarios. A detection of time variation in atomic clocks would favour dynamical dark energy and put strong constraints on the dynamics of a cosmological scalar field.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Asymptotically free four-fermion interactions and electroweak symmetry breaking

We investigate the fermions of the standard model without a Higgs scalar. Instead, we consider a non-local four-quark interaction in the tensor channel which is characterized by a single dimensionless coupling $f$. Quantization leads to a consistent perturbative expansion for small $f$. The running of $f$ is asymptotically free and therefore induces a non-perturbative scale $Λ_{ch}$, in analogy to the strong interactions. We argue that spontaneous electroweak symmetry breaking is triggered at a scale where $f$ grows large and find the top quark mass of the order of $Λ_{ch}$. We also present a first estimate of the effective Yukawa coupling of a composite Higgs scalar to the top quark, as well as the associated mass ratio between the top quark and the W boson.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Time variation of fundamental couplings and dynamical dark energy

Scalar field dynamics may give rise to a nonzero cosmological variation of fundamental constants. Within different scenarios based on the unification of gauge couplings, the various claimed observations and bounds may be combined in order to trace or restrict the time history of the couplings and masses. If the scalar field is responsible for a dynamical dark energy or quintessence, cosmological information becomes available for its time evolution. Combining this information with the time variation of couplings, one can determine the interaction strength between the scalar and atoms, which may be observed by tests of the Weak Equivalence Principle. We compute bounds on the present rate of coupling variation from experiments testing the differential accelerations for bodies with equal mass and different composition and compare the sensitivity of various methods. In particular, we discuss two specific models of scalar evolution: crossover quintessence and growing neutrino models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Unifying cosmological and recent time variations of fundamental couplings

A number of positive and null results on the time variation of fundamental constants have been reported. It is difficult to judge whether or not these claims are mutually consistent, since the observable quantities depend on several parameters, namely the coupling strengths and masses of particles. The evolution of these coupling-parameters over cosmological history is also a priori unknown. A direct comparison requires a relation between the couplings. We explore several distinct scenarios based on unification of gauge couplings, providing a representative (though not exhaustive) sample of such relations. For each scenario we obtain a characteristic time dependence and discuss whether a monotonic time evolution is allowed. For all scenarios, some contradictions between different observations appear. We show how a clear observational determination of non-zero variations would test the dominant mechanism of varying couplings within unified theories.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Cosmon Lumps and Horizonless Black Holes

We investigate non-linear, spherically symmetric solutions to the coupled system of a quintessence field and Einstein gravity. In the presence of a scalar potential, we find regular solutions that to an outside observer very closely resemble Schwarzschild black holes. However, these cosmon lumps have neither a horizon nor a central singularity. A stability analysis reveals that our static solutions are dynamically unstable. It remains an open question whether analogous stable solutions exist.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Chiral tensor fields and spontaneous breaking of Lorentz symmetry

Antisymmetric tensor fields interacting with quarks and leptons have been proposed as a possible solution to the gauge hierarchy problem. We compute the one-loop beta function for a quartic self-interaction of the chiral antisymmetric tensor fields. Fluctuations of the top quark drive the corresponding running coupling to a negative value as the renormalization scale is lowered. This may indicate a non-vanishing expectation value of the tensor field, and thus a spontaneous breaking of Lorentz invariance. Settling this issue will need the inclusion of tensor loops.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Light fermion masses and chiral freedom

Within the scenario of chiral freedom we compute the quark and lepton masses of the first two generations in terms of their chiral couplings. This allows us to make a rough estimate of the size of the chiral couplings, narrowing down the uncertainty in the chiron contribution to low energy observables, like the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. We also extract information about the chiron mass which determines the size of possible chiron effects at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Primordial nucleosynthesis as a probe of fundamental physics parameters

We analyze the effect of variation of fundamental couplings and mass scales on primordial nucleosynthesis in a systematic way. The first step establishes the response of primordial element abundances to the variation of a large number of nuclear physics parameters, including nuclear binding energies. We find a strong influence of the n-p mass difference (for the 4He abundance), of the nucleon mass (for deuterium) and of A=3,4,7 binding energies (for 3He, 6Li and 7Li). A second step relates the nuclear parameters to the parameters of the Standard Model of particle physics. The deuterium, and, above all, 7Li abundances depend strongly on the average light quark mass hat{m} \equiv (m_u+m_d)/2. We calculate the behaviour of abundances when variations of fundamental parameters obey relations arising from grand unification. We also discuss the possibility of a substantial shift in the lithium abundance while the deuterium and 4He abundances are only weakly affected.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Growing Matter

We investigate quintessence cosmologies with a matter component consisting of particles with an increasing mass. While negligible in early cosmology, the appearance of a growing matter component has stopped the evolution of the cosmon field at a redshift around six. In turn, this has triggered the accelerated expansion of the Universe. We propose to associate growing matter with neutrinos. Then the presently observed dark energy density and its equation of state are determined by the neutrino mass.

astro-ph↗