arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Krzysztof A. Meissner.
We take a new look at the DeWitt equation, a defining equation for the effective action functional in quantum field theory. We present a formal solution to this equation, and discuss the equation in various contexts, and in particular for models where it can be made completely well defined, such as the Wess-Zumino model in two dimensions.
We present detailed arguments and calculations in support of our recent proposal to identify the axion arising in the solution of the strong CP problem with the Majoron, the (pseudo-)Goldstone boson of spontaneously broken lepton number symmetry. At low energies, the associated $U(1)_L$ becomes, via electroweak parity violation and neutrino mediation, indistinguishable from an axial Peccei-Quinn symmetry in relation to the strong interactions. The axionic couplings are then fully computable in terms of known SM parameters and the Majorana mass scales. The determination of these couplings involves certain three-loop diagrams, with a UV finite neutrino triangle taking over the role of the usual triangle anomaly. A main novelty of our proposal is thus to solve the strong CP problem by a non-local term that produces an anomaly-like term in the IR limit.
We compute the effective coupling of the Majoron to W bosons at $\cO(\hbar)$ by evaluating the matrix element of the (B-L) current between the vacuum and a $W^+W^-$ state. The (B-L) anomaly vanishes, but the amplitude does not vanish as a result of a UV finite and non-local contribution which is entirely due to the mixing between left-chiral and right-chiral neutrinos. The result shows how anomaly-like couplings may arise in spite of the fact that the (B-L) current remains exactly conserved to all orders in $\hbar$, lending additional support to our previous proposal to identify the Majoron with the axion.
We propose to identify the excess of events with four charged leptons at $E\sim 325\GeV$ seen by the CDF and CMS Collaborations with a new `sterile' scalar particle characterized by a very narrow resonance of the same height and branching ratios as the Standard Model Higgs boson, as predicted in the framework of the so-called Conformal Standard Model
We consider translation invariant quantum systems in thermodynamic limit. We argue that their energy-momentum spectra should have shapes consistent with effective models involving quasiparticles. Our main example is second quantized homogeneous interacting Fermi gas in a large cubic box with periodic boundary conditions, at zero temperature. We expect that its energy-momentum spectrum has a positive energy gap and a positive critical velocity.
We show how neutrino mixing leads to a softening of the UV behavior of neutrino loops, and can give rise to anomaly-like, but manifestly UV finite amplitudes. This mechanism may be of special significance for the coupling of dark matter-like particles to the Standard Model, as we illustrate with a one-loop example involving the coupling to $W$-bosons.
Recent intensive theoretical and experimental studies shed light on possible new physics beyond the standard model of particle physics, which can be probed with sub-eV energy experiments. In the second run of the OSQAR photon regeneration experiment, which looks for the conversion of photon to axion (or Axion-Like Particle), two spare superconducting dipole magnets of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have been used. In this paper we report on first results obtained from a light beam propagating in vacuum within the 9 T field of two LHC dipole magnets. No excess of events above the background was detected and the two-photon couplings of possible new scalar and pseudo-scalar particles could be constrained.
We argue that the axion arising in the solution of the strong CP problem can be identified with the Majoron, the (pseudo-)Goldstone boson of spontaneously broken lepton number symmetry. At low energies, the associated $U(1)_L$ becomes, via electroweak parity violation and neutrino mediation, indistinguishable from an axial Peccei-Quinn symmetry in relation to the strong interactions. The axionic couplings are then fully computable in terms of known SM parameters and the Majorana mass scale, as we illustrate by computing the effective couplings to photons and quarks at two loops.
We discuss the conditions under which classically conformally invariant models in four dimensions can arise out of non-conformal (Einstein) gravity. As an `existence proof' that this is indeed possible we show how to derive N=4 super Yang Mills theory with any compact gauge group G from non-conformal gauged N=4 supergravity as a special flat space limit. We stress the role that the anticipated UV finiteness of the (so far unknown) underlying theory of quantum gravity would have to play in such a scheme, as well as the fact that the masses of elementary particles would have to arise via quantum gravitational effects which mimic the conformal anomalies of standard (flat space) UV divergent quantum field theory.
We derive a general formula for the RG improved effective (Coleman-Weinberg) potential for classically conformal models, applying it to several examples of physical interest, and in particular a model of QCD coupled via quarks to a colorless scalar field. The closed form expressions allow us to discuss the range of validity of the effective potential as well as the issue of `large logarithms' in a way different from previous such analyses. Remarkably, in all examples considered, convexity of the effective potential is restored by the RG improvement, or otherwise the potential becomes unstable. In the former case, symmetry breaking becomes unavoidable due to the appearance of an infrared barrier $Λ_{IR}$, which hints at a so far unsuspected link between $Λ_{QCD}$ and the scale of electroweak symmetry breaking.
A new solution of the Einstein equations for the point mass immersed in the de Sitter Universe is presented. The properties of the metric are very different from both the Schwarzschild black hole and the de Sitter Universe: it is everywhere smooth, light can propagate outward through the horizon, there is an antitrapped surface enclosing the point mass and there is necessarily an initial singularity. The solution for any positive cosmological constant is qualitatively different from the Schwarzschild solution and is not its continuous deformation.
We demonstrate that radiative breaking of conformal symmetry (and simultaneously electroweak symmetry) in the Standard Model with right-chiral neutrinos and a minimally enlarged scalar sector induces spontaneous breaking of lepton number symmetry, which naturally gives rise to an axion-like particle with some unusual features. The couplings of this `axion' to Standard Model particles, in particular photons and gluons, are entirely determined (and computable) via the conformal anomaly, and their smallness turns out to be directly related to the smallness of the masses of light neutrinos.
A new method to amplify the photon-axion conversions in magnetic field is proposed using a buffer gas at a specific pressure. As a first result, new bounds for mass and coupling constant for purely laboratory experiments aiming to detect any hypothetical scalars and pseudo-scalars which can couple to photons were obtained at 95% confidence level, excluding the PVLAS result newly disclaimed.
For massless $ϕ^4$ theory, we explicitly compute the lowest order non-local contributions to the one-loop effective action required for the determination of the trace anomaly. Imposing exact conformal invariance of the local part of the effective action, we argue that the issue of quadratic divergences does not arise in a theory where exact conformal symmetry is only broken by quantum effects. Conformal symmetry can thus replace low energy supersymmetry as a possible guide towards stabilizing the weak scale and solving the hierarchy problem, if (i) there are no intermediate scales between the weak scale and the Planck scale, and (ii) the running couplings exhibit neither Landau poles nor instabilities over this whole range of energies.
We re-examine the question of radiative symmetry breaking in the standard model in the presence of right-chiral neutrinos and a minimally enlarged scalar sector. We demonstrate that, with these extra ingredients, the hypothesis of classically unbroken conformal symmetry, besides naturally introducing and stabilizing a hierarchy, is compatible with all available data; in particular, there exists a set of parameters for which the model may remain viable even up to the Planck scale. The decay modes of the extra scalar field provide a unique signature of this model which can be tested at LHC.
We present a simple method to calculate certain sums of the eigenvalues of the volume operator in loop quantum gravity. We derive the asymptotic distribution of the eigenvalues in the classical limit of very large spins which turns out to be of a very simple form. The results can be useful for example in the statistical approach to quantum gravity.
We present a construction of the algebra of operators and the Hilbert space for a quantum massless field in 1+1 dimensions.
We calculate the black hole entropy in Loop Quantum Gravity as a function of the horizon area and provide the exact formula for the leading and sub-leading terms. By comparison with the Bekenstein-Hawking formula we uniquely fix the value of the 'quantum of area' in the theory.