Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Keith A. Olive

Publications and source records attributed to Keith A. Olive.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources
arXiv2000

Standard Cosmic Ray Energetics and Light Element Production

The recent observations of Be and B in metal poor stars has led to a reassessment of the origin of the light elements in the early Galaxy. At low it is metallicity ([O/H] < -1.75), it is necessary to introduce a production mechanism which is independent of the interstellar metallicity (primary). At higher metallicities, existing data might indicate that secondary production is dominant. In this paper, we focus on the secondary process, related to the standard Galactic cosmic rays, and we examine the cosmic ray energy requirements for both present and past epochs. We find the power input to maintain the present-day Galactic cosmic ray flux is about 1.5e41 erg/s = 5e50 erg/century. This implies that, if supernovae are the sites of cosmic ray acceleration, the fraction of explosion energy going to accelerated particles is about 30%, a value which we obtain consistently both from considering the present cosmic ray flux and confinement and from the present 9Be and 6Li abundances. Using the abundances of 9Be (and 6Li) in metal-poor halo stars, we extend the analysis to show the effect of the interstellar gas mass on the standard galactic cosmic ray energetic constraints on models of Li, Be, and B evolution. The efficiency of the beryllium production per erg may be enhanced in the past by a factor of about 10; thus the energetic requirement by itself cannot be used to rule out a secondary origin of light elements. Only a clear and undisputable observational determination of the O-Fe relation in the halo will discriminate between the two processes. (abridged)

astro-ph↗
arXiv2000

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and Related Observations

The current status of big bang nucleosynthesis is summarized. Particular attention is paid to recent observations of He4 and Li7 and their systematic uncertainties. Be and B are also discussed in connection to recent Li7 observations and the primordial Li7 abundance.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2000

Reheating and dangerous relics in pre-big bang string cosmology

We discuss the mechanism of reheating in pre-big bang string cosmology and we calculate the amount of moduli and gravitinos produced gravitationally and in scattering processes of the thermal bath. We find that this abundance always exceeds the limits imposed by big-bang nucleosynthesis, and significant entropy production is required. The exact amount of entropy needed depends on the details of the high curvature phase between the dilaton-driven inflationary era and the radiation era. We show that the domination and decay of the zero-mode of a modulus field, which could well be the dilaton, or of axions, suffices to dilute moduli and gravitinos. In this context, baryogenesis can be accomodated in a simple way via the Affleck-Dine mechanism and in some cases the Affleck-Dine condensate could provide both the source of entropy and the baryon asymmetry.

hep-th↗
arXiv2000

Solving the Hierarchy Problem in Two-Brane Cosmological Models

We analyze cosmological solutions in the class of two-brane models with arbitrary tensions which contain matter with general equations of state. We show that the mass hierarchy between the two branes is determined by the ratio of the lapse functions evaluated on the branes. This ratio can be sufficiently small without fine-tuning the brane separation, once the transverse dimension is stabilized. For suitably large interbrane separations, both brane tensions are positive. We also find that the cosmological evolution obeys the standard four-dimensional Friedman equation up to small corrections.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2000

On the Determination of the He Abundance in Extragalactic H II Regions

Of the light element abundances capable of testing standard big bang nucleosynthesis, only He4 is measured with an accuracy of a few percent. Thus, it is imperative to establish a comprehensive technique for determining He4 abundances and reliable estimates of the true systematic uncertainties. Helium abundance determinations in H II regions are made from the observations of several distinct He I emission lines and their strengths relative to H I emission lines. With the general availability of large format, linear CCD detectors, the accuracy of relative emission line ratios has improved to the point where several terms in the error budget which were assumed to be negligible may now be important. Here we investigate the estimation of errors in deriving and reporting nebular helium abundances from optical emission line spectra.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2000

Static Solutions for Brane Models with a Bulk Scalar Field

We present static solutions of the 5-dimensional Einstein equations in the brane-world scenario by using two different approaches for the stabilization of the extra dimension. Assuming a ``phenomenological'' stabilization mechanism, that creates a non-vanishing $\hat T^5_5$ in the bulk, we construct a two-brane model, which allows both branes to have positive self-energies. We then consider a candidate theory for the dynamical stabilization, through the introduction of a massless scalar field in the bulk, which interacts with the branes. We find exact static solutions for the metric and scalar field in the bulk and demonstrate that the inter-brane distance is determined by the parameters of scalar field-brane interactions. However, these solutions are always accompanied by a correlation between the bulk cosmological constant, the brane self-energies and the interaction terms of the scalar field with the branes and thus cannot be considered as candidates for the phenomenologically viable stabilized geometry. We find that the aforementioned correlation cannot be avoided even in the case of a single-brane solution with positive self-energy where the fifth dimension ends on a singularity.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2000

Supersymmetric Dark Matter in the Light of LEP and the Tevatron Collider

We analyze the accelerator constraints on the parameter space of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, comparing those now available from LEP II and anticipating the likely sensitivity of Tevatron Run II. The most important limits are those from searches for charginos, neutralinos and Higgs bosons at LEP, and searches for stop squarks, charginos and neutralinos at the Tevatron Collider. We also incorporate the constraints derived from b --> s + gamma decay, and discuss the relevance of charge- and colour-breaking minima in the effective potential. We combine and compare the different constraints on the Higgs-mixing parameter mu, the gaugino-mass parameter m_{1/2} and the scalar-mass parameter m0, incorporating radiative corrections to the physical particle masses. We focus on the resulting limitations on supersymmetric dark matter, assumed to be the lightest neutralino, incorporating coannihilation effects in the calculation of the relic abundance. We find that m_chi > 51 GeV and tan(beta) > 2.2 if all soft supersymmetry-breaking scalar masses are universal, including those of the Higgs bosons, and that these limits weaken to m_chi > 46 GeV and tan(beta) > 1.9 if non-universal scalar masses are allowed. Light neutralino dark matter cannot be primarily Higgsino in composition.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2000

The Evolution of He4 and LiBeB

Our understanding of the evolution of He4 and Li7 depends critically on the available data for these two elements at low metallicity. In particular, the degree to which there is a slope in an abundance vs metallicity regression can help determine the evolution of He, C, N, and O in dwarf galaxies in the case of He, and cosmic-ray induced nucleosynthesis of LiBeB in our own galaxy in the case of Li. Recent data and their implications will be discussed.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2000

Re-Evaluation of the Elastic Scattering of Supersymmetric Dark Matter

We examine the cross sections for the elastic scattering of neutralinos $χ$ on nucleons $p,n$, as functions of $m_χ$ in the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model. We find narrow bands of possible values of the cross section, that are considerably lower than some previous estimates. The constrained model is based on the minimal supergravity-inspired framework for the MSSM, with universal scalar and gaugino masses $m_0, m_{1/2}$, and $μ$ and the MSSM Higgs masses treated as dependent parameters. We explore systematically the region of the $(m_{1/2}, m_0)$ plane where LEP and other accelerator constraints are respected, and the relic neutralino density lies in the range $0.1 \le Ω_χ h^2 \le 0.3$ preferred by cosmology. We update previous discussions of both the spin-independent and -dependent scattering matrix elements on protons and neutrons, using recent analyses of low-energy hadron experiments.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1999

Supersymmetric Dark Matter and the Energy of a Linear Electron-Positron Collider

We suggest that supersymmetric dark matter be used to set the energy scale of a linear $e^+ e^-$ collider. Assuming that the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is a stable neutralino $χ$, as in many incarnations of the MSSM with conserved R parity, previous calculations that include coannihilation effects have delineated the region of the $(m_{1/2}, m_0)$ plane where the LSP cosmological relic density lies in the preferred range $0.1 \la Ω_χ h^2 \la 0.3$. We evaluate here the total cross section for $e^+ e^- \to$ visible pairs of supersymmetric particles, for different values of $m_{1/2}$ and $m_0$, and investigate how much of the dark matter region can be explored by $e^+ e^-$ colliders with different centre-of-mass energies $E_{CM}$. We find that a collider with $E_{CM} = 500$ GeV or 1 TeV can only explore part of the cosmological region, and that a collider with $E_{CM} = 1.5$ TeV with sufficient luminosity can explore all of the supersymmetric dark matter region.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1999

Testing Spallation Processes With Beryllium and Boron

The nucleosynthesis of Be and B by spallation processes provides unique insight into the origin of cosmic rays. Namely, different spallation schemes predict sharply different trends for the growth of LiBeB abundances with respect to oxygen. ``Primary'' mechanisms predict BeB $\propto$ O, and are well motivated by the data if O/Fe is constant at low metallicity. In contrast, ``secondary'' mechanisms predict BeB $\propto$ O$^2$ and are consistent with the data if O/Fe increases towards low metallicity as some recent data suggest. Clearly, any primary mechanism, if operative, will dominate early in the history of the Galaxy. In this paper, we fit the BeB data to a two-component scheme which includes both primary and secondary trends. In this way, the data can be used to probe the period in which primary mechanisms are effective. We analyze the data using consistent stellar atmospheric parameters based on Balmer line data and the continuum infrared flux. Results depend sensitively on Pop II O abundances and, unfortunately, on the choice of stellar parameters. When using recent results which show O/Fe increasing toward lower metallicity, a two-component Be-O fits indicates that primary and secondary components contribute equally at [O/H]$_{eq}$ = -1.8 for Balmer line data; and [O/H]$_{eq}$ = -1.4 to -1.8 for IRFM. We apply these constraints to recent models for LiBeB origin. The Balmer line data does not show any evidence for primary production. On the other hand, the IRFM data does indicate a preference for a two-component model, such as a combination of standard GCR and metal-enriched particles accelerated in superbubbles. These conclusions rely on a detailed understanding of the abundance data including systematic effects which may alter the derived O-Fe and BeB-Fe relations.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1999

New Contributions to Neutralino Elastic Cross-sections from CP Violating Phases in the MSSM

We compute the four-Fermi neutralino-quark interaction Lagrangian including contributions from the CP violating phases in the MSSM. We find that neutralino-nucleus scattering cross-sections relevant for direct detection experiments show a strong dependence on the value of the CP-violating phase associated with the $μ$ parameter, $θ_μ$. In some cases, for a broad range of non-zero $θ_μ$, there are cancellations in the cross-sections which reduce the cross-section by more than an order of magnitude. In other cases, there may be enhancements as one varies $θ_μ$.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1999

Probing the Desert with Ultra--Energetic Neutrinos from the Sun and the Earth

Realistic superstring models generically give rise to exotic matter states, which arise due to the ``Wilson-line'' breaking of the non-Abelian unifying gauge symmetry. Often such states are protected by a gauge or local discrete symmetry and therefore may be stable or meta-stable. We study the possibility of a flux of high energy neutrinos coming from the sun and the earth due to the annihilation of such exotic string states. We also discuss the expected flux for other heavy stable particles -- like the gluino LSP. We comment that the detection of ultra-energetic neutrinos from the sun and the earth imposes model independent constraints on the high energy cutoff, as for example in the recently entertained TeV scale Kaluza-Klein theories. We therefore propose that improved experimental resolution of the energy of the muons in neutrino detectors together with their correlation with neutrinos from the sun and the center of the earth will serve as a probe of the desert in Gravity Unified Theories.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1999

Variations of the Neutralino Elastic Cross-Section with CP Violating Phases

We analyze the neutralino-nucleus elastic cross-section in the MSSM, including contributions from CP-violating phases, using the four-fermi neutralino-quark interaction. Over a wide range of the MSSM parameter space we show the variations in the cross-sections due to these phases. We further concentrate on the regions which are consistent with constraints from the electric dipole moment of the electron, neutron and mercury atom. In the regions we examine in detail, we find suppressions by up to a factor of two, while enhancements in the cross-sections are no greater than $\sim$ 10%.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1999

Assisted Chaotic Inflation in Higher Dimensional Theories

We address the problem of the large initial field values in chaotic inflation and propose a remedy in the framework of the so-called assisted inflation. We demonstrate that a 4-dimensional theory of multiple, scalar fields with initial field values considerably below the Planck scale, can give rise to inflation even though none of the individual scalar fields are capable of driving inflation. The problems arising from the presence of possible non-renormalizable interactions is therefore removed. As a concrete example of a theory with multiple scalar fields, we consider a (4+d)-dimensional field theory of a single, non-interacting massive scalar field whose KK modes play the role of the assisted sector. For the KK modes to assist inflation, the extra dimensions must have a size larger than the inverse (4D) Planck scale.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1999

Primordial Nucleosynthesis: Theory and Observations

We review the Cosmology and Physics underlying Primordial Nucleosynthesis and survey current observational data in order to compare the predictions of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis with the inferred primordial abundances. From this comparison we report on the status of the consistency of the standard hot big bang model, we constrain the universal density of baryons (nucleons), and we set limits to the numbers and/or effective interactions of hypothetical new "light" particles (equivalent massless neutrinos).

astro-ph↗