arXiv subjects

Massimo Giovannini

Publications and source records attributed to Massimo Giovannini.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

arXiv2003

Cosmology of codimension-two braneworlds

We present a comprehensive study of the cosmological solutions of 6D braneworld models with azimuthal symmetry in the extra dimensions, moduli stabilization by flux or a bulk scalar field, and which contain at least one 3-brane that could be identified with our world. We emphasize an unusual property of these models: their expansion rate depends on the 3-brane tension either not at all, or in a nonstandard way, at odds with the naive expected dimensional reduction of these systems to 4D general relativity at low energies. Unlike other braneworld attempts to find a self-tuning solution to the cosmological constant problem, the apparent failure of decoupling in these models is not associated with the presence of unstabilized moduli; rather it is due to automatic cancellation of the brane tension by the curvature induced by the brane. This provides some corroboration for the hope that these models provide a distinctive step toward understanding the smallness of the observed cosmological constant. However, we point out some challenges for obtaining realistic cosmology within this framework.

hep-th↗

arXiv2003

Low-scale Quintessential Inflation

In quintessential inflationary model, the same master field that drives inflation becomes, later on, the dynamical source of the (present) accelerated expansion. Quintessential inflationary models require a curvature scale at the end of inflation around $10^{-6}M_{\rm P}$ in order to explain the large scale fluctuations observed in the microwave sky. If the curvature scale at the end of inflation is much smaller than $10^{-6}M_{\rm P}$, the large scale adiabatic mode may be produced thanks to the relaxation of a scalar degree of freedom, which will be generically denoted, according to the recent terminology, as the curvaton field. The production of the adiabatic mode is analysed in detail in the case of the minimal quintessential inflationary model originally proposed by Peebles and Vilenkin.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2002

Primordial Magnetic Fields and Stochastic GW Backgrounds

Operating resonant mass detectors set interesting bounds on diffused backgrounds of gravitational radiation and in the next five years the wide-band interferometers will also look for stochastic sources. In this lecture the interplay among relic GW backgrounds and large scale magnetic fields will be discussed. Magnetic fields may significantly affect the thermal history of the Universe in particular at the epoch electroweak symmetry breaking and shortly after. A review of some old an new results on the spectral properties of stochastic GW backgrounds will be presented. The possible rôle of primordial magnetic fields as a source of gravitational radiation will be outlined. It will be shown that the usual bound on stochastic GW backgrounds coming from the standard big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) scenario can be significantly relaxed.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2002

Magnetogenesis, variation of gauge couplings and inflation

The interplay among the possible variation of gauge coupling and the inflationary dynamics is investigated in a simplified toy model. Depending upon various parameters (scalar mass, curvature scale at the end of inflation and at the onset of the radiation epoch), the two-point function of the magnetic inhomogeneities grows during the de Sitter stage of expansion and, consequently, large scale magnetic fields are generated. The requirements coming from inflationary magnetogenesis are examined together with the theoretical constraints stemming from the explicit model of the evolution of the gauge coupling.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Primordial magnetic fields

Large scale magnetic fields represent a triple point where cosmology, high-energy physics and astrophysics meet for different but related purposes. After reviewing the implications of large scale magnetic fields in these different areas, the role of primordial magnetic fields is discussed in various physical processes occurring prior to the decoupling epoch with particular attention to the big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) epoch and to the electroweak (EW) epoch. The generation of matter--antimatter isocurvature fluctuations, induced by hypermagnetic fields, is analyzed in light of a possible increase of extra-relativistic species at BBN. It is argued that stochastic GW backgrounds can be generated by hypermagnetic fields at the LISA frequency. The problem of the origin of large scale magnetic fields is also scrutinized.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2002

Scalar normal modes of higher dimensional gravitating kinks

The scalar normal modes of higher dimensional gravitating kink solutions are derived. By perturbing to second order the gravity and matter parts of the action in the background of a five-dimensional kink, the effective Lagrangian of the scalar fluctuations is derived and diagonalized in terms of a single degree of freedom which invariant under infinitesimal diffeomorphisms. The spectrum of the normal modes is discussed and applied to the analysis of short distance corrections to Newton law.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2002

Big Bang nucleosynthesis, matter-antimatter regions, extra relativistic species, and relic gravitational waves

Provided that matter-antimatter domains are present at the onset of big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), the number of allowed additional relativistic species increases, compared to the standard scenario when matter-antimatter domains are absent. The extra relativistic species may take the form of massless fermions or even massless bosons, like relic gravitons. The number of additional degrees of freedom compatible with BBN depends, in this framework, upon the typical scale of the domains and the antimatter fraction. Since the presence of matter-antimatter domains allows a reduction of the neutron to proton ratio prior to the formation of 4He, large amounts of radiation-like energy density are allowed. Our results are compared with other constraints on the number of supplementary relativistic degrees of freedom and with different nonstandard BBN scenarios where the reduction of the neutron to proton ratio occurs via a different physical mechanism. The implications of our considerations for the upper limits on stochastic gravitational waves backgrounds of cosmological origin are outlined.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Zero modes of six-dimensional Abelian vortices

We analyze the fluctuations of Nielsen-Olesen vortices arising in the six-dimensional Abelian-Higgs model. The regular geometry generated by the defect breaks spontaneously six-dimensional Poincaré symmetry leading to a warped space-time with finite four-dimensional Planck mass. As a consequence, the zero mode of the spin two fluctuations of the geometry is always localized but the graviphoton fields, corresponding to spin one metric fluctuations, give rise to zero modes which are not localized either because of their behaviour at infinity or because of their behaviour near the core of the vortex. A similar situation occurs for spin zero fluctuations. Gauge field fluctuations exhibit a localized zero mode.

hep-th↗

arXiv2002

Gauge field localization on Abelian vortices in six dimensions

The vector and tensor fluctuations of vortices localizing gravity in the context of the six-dimensional Abelian Higgs model are studied. These string-like solutions break spontaneously six-dimensional Poincaré invariance leading to a finite four-dimensional Planck mass and to a regular geometry both in the bulk and on the core of the vortex. While the tensor modes of the metric are decoupled and exhibit a normalizable zero mode, the vector fluctuations, present in the gauge sector of the theory, are naturally coupled to the graviphoton fields associated with the vector perturbations of the warped geometry. Using the invariance under infinitesimal diffeomorphisms, it is found that the zero modes of the graviphoton fields are never localized. On the contrary,the fluctuations of the Abelian gauge field itself admit a normalizable zero mode.

hep-th↗

arXiv2002

Vector field localization and negative tension branes

It is shown that negative tension branes in higher dimensions may lead to an effective lower dimensional theory where the gauge-invariant vector fields associated with the fluctuations of the metric are always massless and localized on the brane. Explicit five-dimensional examples of this phenomenon are provided. Furthermore, it is shown that higher dimensional gauge fields can also be localized on these configurations with the zero mode separated from the massive tower by a gap.

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

Graviphoton and graviscalars delocalization in braneworld scenarios

A manifestly gauge-invariant theory of gravitational fluctuations of brane-world scenarios is discussed. Without resorting to any specific gauge choice, a general method is presented in order to disentangle the fluctuations of the brane energy-momentum from the fluctuations of the metric. As an application of the formalism, the localization of metric fluctuations on scalar branes breaking spontaneously five-dimensional Poincaré invariance is addressed. Only assuming that the four-dimensional Planck mass is finite and that the geometry is regular, it is demonstrated that the vector and scalar fluctuations of the metric are not localized on the brane.

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

Response of VIRGO detectors to pre-big-bang gravitons

The sensitivity achievable by a pair of VIRGO detectors to stochastic and isotropic gravitational wave backgrounds produced in pre-big-bang models is discussed in view of the development of a second VIRGO interferometer. We describe a semi-analytical technique allowing to compute the signal-to-noise ratio for (monotonic or non-monotonic) logarithmic energy spectra of relic gravitons of arbitrary slope. We apply our results to the case of two correlated and coaligned VIRGO detectors and we compute their achievable sensitivities. We perform our calculations both for the usual case of minimal string cosmological scenario and in the case of a non-minimal scenario where a long dilaton dominated phase is present prior to the onset of the ordinary radiation dominated phase. In this framework, we investigate possible improvements of the achievable sensitivities by selective reduction of the thermal contributions (pendulum and pendulum's internal modes) to the noise power spectra of the detectors. Since a reduction of the shot noise does not increase significantly the expected sensitivity of a VIRGO pair (in spite of the relative spatial location of the two detectors) our findings support the experimental efforts directed towards a substantial reduction of thermal noise.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2001

Thick branes and Gauss-Bonnet self-interactions

Thick branes obtained from a bulk action containing Gauss-Bonnet self-interactions are analyzed in light of the localization properties of the various modes of the geometry. The entangled system describing the localization of the tensor, vector and scalar fluctuation is decoupled in terms of variables invariant for infinitesimal coordinate transformations. The dynamics of the various zero modes is discussed and solved in general terms. Provided the four-dimensional Planck mass is finite and provided the geometry is everywhere regular, it is shown that the vector and scalar zero modes are not localized. The tensor zero mode is localized leading to four-dimensional gravity. The general formalism is illustrated through specific analytical examples

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

Localization of metric fluctuations on scalar branes

The localization of metric fluctuations on scalar brane configurations breaking spontaneously five-dimensional Poincaré invariance is discussed. Assuming that the four-dimensional Planck mass is finite and that the geometry is regular, it is demonstrated that the vector and scalar fluctuations of the metric are not localized on the brane.

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

Gauge-invariant fluctuations of scalar branes

A generalization of the Bardeen formalism to the case of warped geometries is presented. The system determining the gauge-invariant fluctuations of the metric induced by the scalar fluctuations of the brane is reduced to a set of Schrödinger-like equations for the Bardeen potentials and for the canonical normal modes of the scalar-tensor action. Scalar, vector and tensor modes of the geometry are classified according to four-dimensional Lorentz transformations. While the tensor modes of the geometry live on the brane determining the corrections to Newton law, the scalar and and vector fluctuations exhibit non normalizable zero modes and are, consequently, not localized on the brane. The spectrum of the massive modes of the fluctuations is analyzed using supersymmetric quantum mechanics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

Inflationary magnetogenesis from dynamical gauge couplings

The evolution of the gauge coupling is modelled using a scalar degree of freedom whose homogeneous and inhomogeneous modes evolve from an ordinary inflationary phase to the subsequent epochs. Depending upon various parameters (scalar mass, curvature scale at the end of inflation and at the onset of the radiation epoch), the two-point function of the magnetic inhomogeneities grows during the de Sitter stage of expansion and, consequently, large scale magnetic fields are generated. The requirements coming from inflationary magnetogenesis are examined together with the theoretical constraints stemming from the explicit model of the evolution of the gauge coupling. Galactic magnetogenesis is possible for a wide range of parameters. Inter-galactic and inter-cluster magnetogenesis are also discussed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

On the variation of the gauge couplings during inflation

It is shown that the evolution of the (Abelian) gauge coupling during an inflationary phase of de Sitter type drives the growth of the two-point function of the magnetic inhomogeneities. After examining the constraints on the variation of the gauge coupling arising in a standard model of inflationary and post-inflationary evolution, magnetohydrodynamical equations are generalized to the case of time evolving gauge coupling. It is argued that large scale magnetic fields can be copiously generated. Other possible implications of the model are outlined.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Static dilaton solutions and singularities in six dimensional warped compactification with higher derivatives

Static solutions with a bulk dilaton are derived in the context of six dimensional warped compactification. In the string frame, exponentially decreasing warp factors are identified with critical points of the low energy $β$-functions truncated at a given order in the string tension corrections. The stability of the critical points is discussed in the case of the first string tension correction. The singularity properties of the obtained solutions are analyzed and illustrative numerical examples are provided.

hep-th↗