arXiv subjects

Ian G Moss

Publications and source records attributed to Ian G Moss.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Dark matter droplets

A new model for dark matter is put forward which consists of uniform droplets of Bose Einstein condensate. In this model, structure forms rapidly, shortly after the hot big bang plasma de-ionises. The model also produces modifications to the expansion rate before droplet formation that affect the measurement of cosmological parameters from Cosmic Microwave Background data. The model could contribute to explaining why observations at high redshift see anomalously high structure formation and predict low values for the Hubble constant.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Seeding decay of the false vacuum

We present a theory of false vacuum decay induced by spherical nucleation seeds. The type of seed considered has a boundary characterised by surface energy terms. The theory applies to false vacuum decay at zero and finite temperatures. Seeded nucleation may be important for enabling future false vacuum decay experiments on analogue systems using Bose Einstein Condensates (BEC). We show that our theory of seeded nucleation at finite temperature applied to a potassium BEC in two spatial dimensions agrees with numerical, real-time, simulations.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Hawking-Moss transition with a black hole seed

We extend the the concept of Hawking-Moss, or up-tunnelling, transitions in the early universe to include black hole seeds. The black hole greatly enhances the decay amplitude, however, order to have physically consistent results, we need to impose a new condition (automatically satisfied for the original Hawking-Moss instanton) that the cosmological horizon area should not increase during tunnelling. We motivate this conjecture physically in two ways. First, we look at the energetics of the process, using the formalism of extended black hole thermodynamics; secondly, we extend the stochastic inflationary formalism to include primordial black holes. Both of these methods give a physical substantiation of our conjecture.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Higgs Vacuum Decay in a Braneworld

We examine the effect of large extra dimensions on vacuum decay in the Randall-Sundrum (RS) braneworld paradigm. We assume the scalar field is confined to the brane, and compute the probability for forming an "anti de Sitter" (AdS) bubble inside a critical flat RS brane. We present the first full numerical solutions for the brane instanton considering two test potentials for the scalar field. We explore the geometrical impact of thin and thick bubble walls, and compute the instanton action in a range of cases. We conclude by commenting on a more physically realistic potential relevant for the standard model Higgs. For bubbles with large backreaction, the extra dimension has a dramatic effect on the tunnelling rate, however, for the weakly backreacting bubbles more relevant for realistic Standard Model potentials, the extra dimension has little impact.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Higgs Vacuum Decay from Particle Collisions?

We examine the effect of large extra dimensions on black hole seeded vacuum decay using the Randall-Sundrum model as a prototype for warped extra dimensions. We model the braneworld black hole by a tidal solution, and solve the Higgs equations of motion for the instanton on the brane. Remarkably, the action of the static instanton can be shown to be the difference in the bulk areas of the seed and remnant black holes, and we estimate these areas assuming the black holes are small compared to the bulk AdS radius. Comparing to the Hawking evaporation rate shows that small black hole seeds preferentially catalyse vacuum decay, thus extending our previous results to higher dimensional braneworld scenarios. The parameter ranges do not allow for Standard Model Higgs decay from collider black holes, but they can be relevant for cosmic ray collisions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Non-gaussianity in the strong regime of warm inflation

The bispectrum of scalar mode density perturbations is analysed for the strong regime of warm inflationary models. This analysis generalises previous results by allowing damping terms in the inflaton equation of motion that are dependent on temperature. A significant amount of non-gaussianity emerges with constant (or local) non-linearity parameter $f_{NL}\sim 20$, in addition to the terms with non-constant $f_{NL}$ which are characteristic of warm inflation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Black holes with current loops revisited

The electromagnetic field around a Kerr black hole inside a current loop is sometimes used as the basis of a toy model for discussing the properties of particle orbits near astrophysical black holes. The motivation for the present paper is to correct the published solution to Maxwell's equations with a charged current loop. Dipole approximations and closed-form expressions in the extreme Kerr limit are also presented. Using the corrected solution, it turns out that imposing a vanishing electromotive force produces a loop with a potential which is finite everywhere outside the black hole. Ring solutions can be combined into solutions with multiple rings or current discs.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2009

Density fluctuations from warm inflation

Thermal fluctuations provide the main source of large scale density perturbations in warm inflationary models of the early universe. For the first time, general results are obtained for the power spectrum in the case when the friction coefficient in the inflaton equation of motion depends on temperature. A large increase in the amplitude of perturbations occurs when the friction coefficient increases with temperature. This has to be taken into account when constructing models of warm inflation. New results are also given for the thermal fluctuations in the weak regime of warm inflation when the friction coefficient is relatively small.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2008

On the consistency of warm inflation

Conditions are obtained for the existence of a warm inflationary attractor in the system of equations describing an inflaton coupled to radiation. These conditions restrict the temperature dependence of the dissipative terms and the size of thermal corrections to the inflaton potential, as well as the gradient of the inflaton potential. When these conditions are met, the evolution approaches a slow-roll limit and only curvature fluctuations survive on super-horizon scales. Formulae are given for the spectral indices of the density perturbations and the tensor/scalar density perturbation amplitude ratio in warm inflation.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Particle production and reheating in the inflationary universe

Thermal field theory is applied to particle production rates in inflationary models, leading to new results for catalysed, or two-stage decay, where massive fields act as decay channels for the production of light fields. A numerical investigation of the Bolztmann equation in an expanding universe shows that the particle distributions produced during small amplitude inflaton oscillations or alongside slowly moving inflaton fields can thermalise.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Higher order terms in an improved heterotic M theory

Curvature squared terms are added to a consistent formulation of supergravity on manifolds with boundary which is meant to represent the low energy limit of the strongly coupled heterotic string. These terms are necessary for the cancellation of gravitational anomalies and for reduction to lower dimensions with broken chiral symmetry. The consequences of anomaly cancellation when flux and extrinsic curvature terms are taken into account have yet to be fully exploited, but some implications for flux terms are discussed.

hep-th↗

arXiv2008

Gaugino condensation in an improved heterotic M-theory

Gaugino condensation is discussed in the context of a consistent new version of low energy heterotic M-theory. The four dimensional reduction of the theory is described, based on simple boson and fermion backgrounds. This is generalised to include gaugino condenstates and various background fluxes, some with non-trivial topology. It is found that condensate and quantised flux contributions to the four-dimensional superpotential contain no corrections due to the warping of the higher dimensional metric.

hep-th↗

arXiv2007

Testing models of inflation with CMB non-gaussianity

Two different predictions for the primordial curvature fluctuation bispectrum are compared through their effects on the Cosmic Microwave Background temperature fluctuations. The first has a local form described by a single parameter f_{NL}. The second is based on a prediction from the warm inflationary scenario, with a different dependence on wavenumber and a parameter f_{WI}. New expressions are obtained for the angular bispectra of the temperature fluctuations and for the estimators used to determine $f_{NL}$ and f_{WI}. The standard deviation of the estimators in an ideal experiment is roughly 5 times larger for f_{WI} than for f_{NL}. Using 3 year WMAP data gives limits -375<f_{WI}<36.8, but there is a possibility of detecting a signal for f_{WI} from the Planck satellite.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Non-gaussianity in fluctuations from warm inflation

The scalar mode density perturbations in a the warm inflationary scenario are analysed with a view to predicting the amount of non-gaussianity produced by this scenario. The analysis assumes that the inflaton evolution is strongly damped by the radiation, with damping terms that are temperature independent. Entropy fluctuations during warm inflation play a crucial role in generating non-gaussianity and result in a distinctive signal which should be observable by the Planck satellite.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Dissipation coefficients for supersymmetric inflatonary models

Dissipative effects can lead to a friction term in the equation of motion for an inflaton field during the inflationary era. The friction term may be linear and localised, in which case it is described by a dissipation coefficient. The dissipation coefficient is calculated here in a supersymmetric model with a two stage decay process in which the inflaton decays into a thermal gas of light particles through a heavy intermediate. At low temperatures, the dissipation coefficient $\propto T^3$ in a thermal approximation. Results are also given for a non-equilibrium anzatz. The dissipation coefficient is consistent with a warm inflationary regime for moderate ($\sim 0.1$) values of the coupling constants.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

A new look at anomaly cancellation in heterotic $M$-theory

This paper considers anomaly cancellation for eleven-dimensional supergravity on a manifold with boundary and theories related to heterotic $M$-theory. The Green-Schwarz mechanism is implemented without introducing distributions. The importance of the supersymmetry anomaly in constructing the low energy action is discussed and it is argued that a recently proposed action for heterotic $M$-theory gives a supersymmetric theory to all orders in the gravitational coupling $κ$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2004

Thermal Effects on Pure and Hybrid Inflation

This paper discusses models of inflation based on global supersymmetry. It is shown that there are parameter ranges, consisent with observational constraints, for which warm inflation occurs and supergravity effects can be neglected. There is no need for any fine tuning of parameters. The thermal corrections to the inflaton potential are calculated and found to be unimportant.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2002

Gravitational quasinormal modes for Anti-de Sitter black holes

Quasinormal mode spectra for gravitational perturbations of black holes in four dimensional de Sitter and anti-de Sitter space are investigated. The anti-de Sitter case is relevant to the ADS-CFT correspondence in superstring theory. The ADS-CFT correspondence suggests a prefered set of boundary conditions.

gr-qc↗