arXiv subjects

Frank Wilczek

Publications and source records attributed to Frank Wilczek.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Effective Action, Boundary Conditions, and Virasoro Algebra for AdS$_3$

We construct, to second order, the effective action of General Relativity for small excitations generated by a vector field and use it to study conformal symmetry in the boundary of AdS$_3$. By requiring finiteness of the boundary effective action(s) for certain asymptotic transformations, we derive the well-known Virasoro algebra and central charge associated with the boundary of AdS$_3$. The bulk action for these transformations can be arbitrarily small.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2010

Beyond the Standard Litany: LOSP and Higgs Portals; Lattice Lattice Gauge Theory

Invited talk at the EPS-HEPP meeting in Krakow, July 2009. My first thought, and presumably the default expectation, was that I'd talk in a general way about the grandeur of high energy physics and the exciting future we anticipate, especially with LHC coming on line. But an unfortunate byproduct of the delays at LHC and the slow pace of other experiments is that I've already done that sort of thing many times, as have many other conference embellishers, and the ritual is getting stale. So I'll speed through the litany, and then indulge myself by advertising some ideas I've been fond of, some for quite a while, that I think are interesting, promising, and not as well known as they should be.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

Axion Cosmology and the Energy Scale of Inflation

We survey observational constraints on the parameter space of inflation and axions and map out two allowed windows: the classic window and the inflationary anthropic window. The cosmology of the latter is particularly interesting; inflationary axion cosmology predicts the existence of isocurvature fluctuations in the CMB, with an amplitude that grows with both the energy scale of inflation and the fraction of dark matter in axions. Statistical arguments favor a substantial value for the latter, and so current bounds on isocurvature fluctuations imply tight constraints on inflation. For example, an axion Peccei-Quinn scale of 10^16 GeV excludes any inflation model with energy scale > 3.8*10^14 GeV (r > 2*10^(-9)) at 95% confidence, and so implies negligible gravitational waves from inflation, but suggests appreciable isocurvature fluctuations.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2010

Prelude to Compressed Baryonic Matter

This is intended to appear as the introduction to "The CBM Physics Book: compressed baryonic matter in laboratory experiments" (ed. B. Friman, C. Höhne, S. Leupold, J. Knoll, J. Randrup, R. Rapp, P. Senger), to be published by Springer. At the end there is a new proposal for numerically tractable models of interacting many-body systems.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

Running Inflation in the Standard Model

An interacting scalar field with largish coupling to curvature can support a distinctive inflationary universe scenario. Previously this has been discussed for the Standard Model Higgs field, treated classically or in a leading log approximation. Here we investigate the quantum theory using renormalization group methods. In this model the running of both the effective Planck mass and the couplings is important. The cosmological predictions are consistent with existing WMAP5 data, with 0.967 < n_s < 0.98 (for N_e = 60) and negligible gravity waves. We find a relationship between the spectral index and the Higgs mass that is sharply varying for m_h ~ 120-135 GeV (depending on the top mass); in the future, that relationship could be tested against data from PLANCK and LHC. We also comment briefly on how similar dynamics might arise in more general settings, and discuss our assumptions from the effective field theory point of view.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

New Kinds of Quantum Statistics

I review the quantum kinematics of identical particles, which suggests new possibilities, beyond bosons and fermions, in 2+1 dimensions; and how simple flux-charge constructions embody the new possibilities, leading to both abelian and nonabelian anyons. I briefly allude to experimental realizations, and also advertise a spinor construction of nonabelian statistics, that has a 3+1 dimensional extension.

hep-th↗

arXiv2008

Enforced Electrical Neutrality of the Color-Flavor Locked Phase

We demonstrate that quark matter in the color-flavor locked phase of QCD is rigorously electrically neutral, despite the unequal quark masses, and even in the presence of an electron chemical potential. As long as the strange quark mass and the electron chemical potential do not preclude the color-flavor locked phase, quark matter is automatically neutral. No electrons are required and none are admitted.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Anomalies, Hawking Radiations and Regularity in Rotating Black Holes

This is an extended version of our previous letter hep-th/0602146. In this paper we consider rotating black holes and show that the flux of Hawking radiation can be determined by anomaly cancellation conditions and regularity requirement at the horizon. By using a dimensional reduction technique, each partial wave of quantum fields in a d=4 rotating black hole background can be interpreted as a (1+1)-dimensional charged field with a charge proportional to the azimuthal angular momentum m. From this and the analysis gr-qc/0502074, hep-th/0602146 on Hawking radiation from charged black holes, we show that the total flux of Hawking radiation from rotating black holes can be universally determined in terms of the values of anomalies at the horizon by demanding gauge invariance and general coordinate covariance at the quantum level. We also clarify our choice of boundary conditions and show that our results are consistent with the effective action approach where regularity at the future horizon and vanishing of ingoing modes at r=\infty are imposed (i.e. Unruh vacuum).

hep-th↗

arXiv2007

Anticipating a New Golden Age

The standard model of fundamental interactions is remarkably successful, but it leaves an unfinished agenda. Several major questions seem ripe for exploration in the near future. I anticipate that the coming decade will be a Golden Age of discovery in fundamental physics.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Fundamental Constants

The notion of ``fundamental constant'' is heavily theory-laden. A natural, fairly precise formulation is possible in the context of the standard model (here defined to include gravity). Some fundamental constants have profound geometric meaning. The ordinary gravitational constant parameterizes the stiffness, or resistance to curvature, of space-time. The cosmological term parameterizes space-time's resistance to expansion -- which may be, and apparently is at present, a {\it negative} resistance, i.e. a tendency toward expansion. The three gauge couplings of the strong, electromagnetic, and weak interactions parameterize resistance to curvature in internal spaces. The remaining fundamental couplings, of which there are a few dozen, supply an ungainly accommodation of inertia. The multiplicity and variety of fundamental constants are esthetic and conceptual shortcomings in our present understanding of foundational physics. I discuss some ideas for improving the situation. I then briefly discuss additional constants, primarily cosmological, that enter into our best established present-day world model. Those constants presently appear as macroscopic state parameters, i.e. as empirical ``material constants'' of the Universe. I mention a few ideas for how they might become fundamental constants in a future theory. In the course of this essay I've advertised several of my favorite speculations, including a few that might be tested soon.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Stability conditions and Fermi surface topologies in a superconductor

Candidate homogeneous, isotropic superfluid or superconducting states of paired fermion species with different chemical potentials, can lead to quasiparticle excitation energies that vanish at either zero, one, or two spheres in momentum space. With no zeroes, we have a conventional BCS superconductor. The other two cases, ``gapless'' superconductors, appear in mean field theory for sufficiently large mismatches and/or sufficiently large coupling strengths. Here we examine several stability criteria for those candidate phases. Positivity of number susceptibility appears to provide the most powerful constraint, and renders all the two-zero states that we have examined mechanically unstable. Our results should apply directly to ultracold fermionic atom systems.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2006

Gravitational Correction to Running of Gauge Couplings

We calculate the contribution of graviton exchange to the running of gauge couplings at lowest non-trivial order in perturbation theory. Including this contribution in a theory that features coupling constant unification does not upset this unification, but rather shifts the unification scale. When extrapolated formally, the gravitational correction renders all gauge couplings asymptotically free.

hep-th↗

arXiv2006

Hawking Radiation from Charged Black Holes via Gauge and Gravitational Anomalies

Extending gr-qc/0502074, we show that in order to avoid a breakdown of general covariance and gauge invariance at the quantum level the total flux of charge and energy in each outgoing partial wave of a charged quantum field in a Reissner-Nordstrom black hole background must be equal to that of a (1+1) dimensional blackbody at the Hawking temperature with the appropriate chemical potential.

hep-th↗

arXiv2006

Higgs-field Portal into Hidden Sectors

The Higgs field mass term, being superrenomalizable, has a unique status within the standard model. Through the opening it affords, $SU(3) \times SU(2) \times U(1)$ singlet fields can have renormalizable couplings to standard model fields. We present examples that are neither grotesque nor unnatural. A possible consequence is to spread the Higgs particle resonance into several weaker ones, or to afford it additional, effectively invisible decay channels.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Hadron Systematics and Emergent Diquarks

We briefly review a variety of theoretical and phenomenological indications for the probable importance of powerful diquark correlations in hadronic physics. We demonstrate that the bulk of light hadron spectroscopy can be organized using three simple hypotheses: Regge-Chew-Frautschi mass formulae, feebleness of spin-orbit forces, and energetic distinctions among a few different diquark configurations. Those hypotheses can be implemented in a semi-classical model of color flux tubes, extrapolated down from large orbital angular momentum $L$. We discuss refinements of the model to include the effects of tunneling, mass loading, and internal excitations. We also discern effects of diquark correlations in observed patterns of baryon decays. Many predictions and suggestions for further work appear.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Dimensionless constants, cosmology and other dark matters

We identify 31 dimensionless physical constants required by particle physics and cosmology, and emphasize that both microphysical constraints and selection effects might help elucidate their origin. Axion cosmology provides an instructive example, in which these two kinds of arguments must both be taken into account, and work well together. If a Peccei-Quinn phase transition occurred before or during inflation, then the axion dark matter density will vary from place to place with a probability distribution. By calculating the net dark matter halo formation rate as a function of all four relevant cosmological parameters and assessing other constraints, we find that this probability distribution, computed at stable solar systems, is arguably peaked near the observed dark matter density. If cosmologically relevant WIMP dark matter is discovered, then one naturally expects comparable densities of WIMPs and axions, making it important to follow up with precision measurements to determine whether WIMPs account for all of the dark matter or merely part of it.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Enlightenment, Knowledge, Ignorance, Temptation

I discuss the historical and conceptual roots of reasoning about the parameters of fundamental physics and cosmology based on selection effects. I argue concretely that such reasoning can and should be combined with arguments based on symmetry and dynamics; it supplements them, but does not replace them.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

The Universe is a Strange Place

Our understanding of ordinary matter is remarkably accurate and complete, but it is based on principles that are very strange and unfamiliar. As I'll explain, we've come to understand matter to be a Music of the Void, in a remarkably literal sense. Just as we physicists finalized that wonderful understanding, towards the end of the twentieth century, astronomers gave us back our humility, by informing us that ordinary matter -- what we, and chemists and biologists, and astronomers themselves, have been studying all these centuries constitutes only about 5% of the mass of the universe as a whole. I'll describe some of our promising attempts to rise to this challenge by improving, rather than merely complicating, our description of the world.

physics.pop-ph↗