arXiv subjects

Lena Funcke

Publications and source records attributed to Lena Funcke.

58 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Topological vacuum structure of the Schwinger model with matrix product states

We numerically study the single-flavor Schwinger model with a topological $θ$-term, which is practically inaccessible by standard lattice Monte Carlo simulations due to the sign problem. By using numerical methods based on tensor networks, especially the one-dimensional matrix product states, we explore the non-trivial $θ$-dependence of several lattice and continuum quantities in the Hamiltonian formulation. In particular, we compute the ground-state energy, the electric field, the chiral fermion condensate, and the topological vacuum susceptibility for positive, zero, and even negative fermion mass. In the chiral limit, we demonstrate that the continuum model becomes independent of the vacuum angle $θ$, thus respecting CP invariance, while lattice artifacts still depend on $θ$. We also confirm that negative masses can be mapped to positive masses by shifting $θ\rightarrow θ+π$ due to the axial anomaly in the continuum, while lattice artifacts non-trivially distort this mapping. This mass regime is particularly interesting for the (3+1)-dimensional QCD analog of the Schwinger model, the sign problem of which requires the development and testing of new numerical techniques beyond the conventional Monte Carlo approach.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2020

Distinguishing Dirac and Majorana neutrinos by their gravi-majoron decays

Neutrinos may acquire small Dirac or Majorana masses by new low-energy physics in terms of the chiral gravitational anomaly, as proposed by Dvali and Funcke (2016). This model predicts fast neutrino decays, $ν_i\toν_j+ϕ$ and $ν_i\to\barν_j+ϕ$, where the gravi-majorons $ϕ$ are pseudoscalar Nambu-Goldstone bosons. The final-state neutrino and antineutrino distributions differ depending on the Dirac or Majorana mass of the initial state. This opens a channel for distinguishing these cases, for example in the spectrum of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. In particular, we put bounds on the neutrino lifetimes in the Majorana case, ${τ_2}/{m_2}> 1.1\times 10^{-3}(6.7\times 10^{-4})~{\rm s/eV}$ and ${τ_3}/{m_3}> 2.2\times 10^{-5}(1.3\times 10^{-4})~{\rm s/eV}$ at 90% CL for hierarchical (degenerate) masses, using data from experiments searching for antineutrino appearance from the Sun.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Time-varying neutrino mass from a supercooled phase transition: current cosmological constraints and impact on the $Ω_m$-$σ_8$ plane

In this paper we investigate a time-varying neutrino mass model, motivated by the mild tension between cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements of the matter fluctuations and those obtained from low-redshift data. We modify the minimal case of the model proposed by Dvali and Funcke (2016) that predicts late neutrino mass generation in a post-recombination cosmic phase transition, by assuming that neutrino asymmetries allow for the presence of relic neutrinos in the late-time Universe. We show that, if the transition is supercooled, current cosmological data (including CMB temperature, polarization and lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, and Type Ia supernovae) prefer the scale factor $a_s$ of the phase transition to be very large, peaking at $a_s\sim 1$, and therefore supporting a cosmological scenario in which neutrinos are almost massless until very recent times. We find that in this scenario the cosmological bound on the total sum of the neutrino masses today is significantly weakened compared to the standard case of constant-mass neutrinos, with $\sum m_ν<4.8$~eV at 95\% confidence, and in agreement with the model predictions. The main reason for this weaker bound is a large correlation arising between the dark energy and neutrino components in the presence of false vacuum energy that converts into the non-zero neutrino masses after the transition. This result provides new targets for the coming KATRIN and PTOLEMY experiments. We also show that the time-varying neutrino mass model considered here does not provide a clear explanation to the existing cosmological $Ω_m$-$σ_8$ discrepancies.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Small neutrino masses from gravitational $θ$-term

We present how a neutrino condensate and small neutrino masses emerge from a topological formulation of gravitational anomaly. We first recapitulate how a gravitational $θ$-term leads to the emergence of a new bound neutrino state analogous to the $η'$ meson of QCD. Then we show the consequent formation of a neutrino vacuum condensate, which effectively generates small neutrino masses. Afterwards we outline several phenomenological consequences of our neutrino mass generation model. The cosmological neutrino mass bound vanishes since we predict the neutrinos to be massless until the phase transition in the late Universe, $T\sim {\rm meV}$. Deviations from an equal flavor rate due to enhanced neutrino decays in extraterrestrial neutrino fluxes can be observed in future IceCube data. The current cosmological neutrino background only consists of the lightest neutrinos, which, due to enhanced neutrino-neutrino interactions, either bind up, form a superfluid, or completely annihilate into massless bosons. Strongly coupled relic neutrinos could provide a contribution to cold dark matter in the late Universe, together with the new proposed particles and topological defects, which may have formed during neutrino condensation. These enhanced interactions could also be a source of relic neutrino clustering in our Galaxy, which possibly makes the overdense cosmic neutrino background detectable in the KATRIN experiment. The neutrino condensate provides a mass for the hypothetical $B-L$ gauge boson, leading to a gravity-competing force detectable in short-distance measurements. Gravitational waves detections have the potential to probe our neutrino mass generation mechanism.

hep-ph↗