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Nikolaos Tetradis

Publications and source records attributed to Nikolaos Tetradis.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2017

(Higgs) vacuum decay during inflation

We develop the formalism for computing gravitational corrections to vacuum decay from de Sitter space as a sub-Planckian perturbative expansion. Non-minimal coupling to gravity can be encoded in an effective potential. The Coleman bounce continuously deforms into the Hawking-Moss bounce, until they coincide for a critical value of the Hubble constant. As an application, we reconsider the decay of the electroweak Higgs vacuum during inflation. Our vacuum decay computation reproduces and improves bounds on the maximal inflationary Hubble scale previously computed through statistical techniques.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

On gravitational and thermal corrections to vacuum decay

We reconsider gravitational corrections to vacuum decay, confirming and simplifying earlier results and extending them by allowing for a non-minimal coupling of the Higgs to gravity. We find that leading-order gravitational corrections suppress the vacuum decay rate. Furthermore, we compute minor corrections to thermal vacuum decay in the SM by adding one-loop contributions to the Higgs kinetic term, two-loop contributions to the Higgs potential and allowing for time-dependent bounces.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

Black holes and Higgs stability

We study the effect of primordial black holes on the classical rate of nucleation of AdS regions within the standard electroweak vacuum. We find that the energy barrier for transitions to the new vacuum, which characterizes the exponential suppression of the nucleation rate, can be reduced significantly in the black-hole background. A precise analysis is required in order to determine whether the the existence of primordial black holes is compatible with the form of the Higgs potential at high temperature or density in the Standard Model or its extensions.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

Renormalization-group flow of the effective action of cosmological large-scale structures

Following an approach of Matarrese and Pietroni, we derive the functional renormalization group (RG) flow of the effective action of cosmological large-scale structures. Perturbative solutions of this RG flow equation are shown to be consistent with standard cosmological perturbation theory. Non-perturbative approximate solutions can be obtained by truncating the a priori infinite set of possible effective actions to a finite subspace. Using for the truncated effective action a form dictated by dissipative fluid dynamics, we derive RG flow equations for the scale dependence of the effective viscosity and sound velocity of non-interacting dark matter, and we solve them numerically. Physically, the effective viscosity and sound velocity account for the interactions of long-wavelength fluctuations with the spectrum of smaller-scale perturbations. We find that the RG flow exhibits an attractor behaviour in the IR that significantly reduces the dependence of the effective viscosity and sound velocity on the input values at the UV scale. This allows for a self-contained computation of matter and velocity power spectra for which the sensitivity to UV modes is under control.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2015

The cosmological Higgstory of the vacuum instability

The Standard Model Higgs potential becomes unstable at large field values. After clarifying the issue of gauge dependence of the effective potential, we study the cosmological evolution of the Higgs field in presence of this instability throughout inflation, reheating and the present epoch. We conclude that anti-de Sitter patches in which the Higgs field lies at its true vacuum are lethal for our universe. From this result, we derive upper bounds on the Hubble constant during inflation, which depend on the reheating temperature and on the Higgs coupling to the scalar curvature or to the inflaton. Finally we study how a speculative link between Higgs meta-stability and consistence of quantum gravity leads to a sharp prediction for the Higgs and top masses, which is consistent with measured values.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2015

Large scale structure from viscous dark matter

Cosmological perturbations of sufficiently long wavelength admit a fluid dynamic description. We consider modes with wavevectors below a scale $k_m$ for which the dynamics is only mildly non-linear. The leading effect of modes above that scale can be accounted for by effective non-equilibrium viscosity and pressure terms. For mildly non-linear scales, these mainly arise from momentum transport within the ideal and cold but inhomogeneous fluid, while momentum transport due to more microscopic degrees of freedom is suppressed. As a consequence, concrete expressions with no free parameters, except the matching scale $k_m$, can be derived from matching evolution equations to standard cosmological perturbation theory. Two-loop calculations of the matter power spectrum in the viscous theory lead to excellent agreement with $N$-body simulations up to scales $k=0.2 \, h/$Mpc. The convergence properties in the ultraviolet are better than for standard perturbation theory and the results are robust with respect to variations of the matching scale.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2015

Backreaction effects on the matter side of Einstein's field equations

Recently, we have derived a novel and compact expression for how perturbations in the matter fields of the cosmological fluid can lead to deviations from the standard Friedmann equations. Remarkably, the dissipative damping of velocity perturbations by bulk and shear viscosity in the dark sector can modify the expansion history of the universe on arbitrarily large scales. In universes in which this effect is sufficiently sizeable, it could account for the acceleration of the cosmological expansion. But even if dark matter should be less viscous and if the effect would be correspondingly smaller, it may have observable consequences in the era of precision cosmology. Here, we review the origin of this backreaction effect and possibilities to constrain it further.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Nonlinear evolution of density and flow perturbations on a Bjorken background

Density perturbations and their dynamic evolution from early to late times can be used for an improved understanding of interesting physical phenomena both in cosmology and in the context of heavy-ion collisions. We discuss the spectrum and bispectrum of these perturbations around a longitudinally expanding fireball after a heavy-ion collision. The time-evolution equations couple the spectrum and bispectrum to each other, as well as to higher-order correlation functions through nonlinear terms. A non-trivial bispectrum is thus always generated, even if absent initially. For initial conditions corresponding to a model of independent sources, we discuss the linear and nonlinear evolution is detail. We show that, if the initial conditions are sufficiently smooth for fluid dynamics to be applicable, the nonlinear effects are relatively small.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2015

Accelerating cosmological expansion from shear and bulk viscosity

The dissipation of energy from local velocity perturbations in the cosmological fluid affects the time evolution of spatially averaged fluid dynamic fields and the cosmological solution of Einstein's field equations. We show how this backreaction effect depends on shear and bulk viscosity and other material properties of the dark sector, as well as the spectrum of perturbations. If sufficiently large, this effect could account for the acceleration of the cosmological expansion.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Quantum Corrections in Classicalon Theories

We use the heat kernel in order to compute the one-loop effective action on a classicalon background. We find that the UV divergences are suppressed relative to the predictions of standard perturbation theory in the interior of the classicalon. There is a strong analogy with the suppression of quantum fluctuations in Galileon theories, within the regions where the Vainshtein mechanism operates (discussed in arXiv:1401.2775). Both classicalon and Galileon theories display reduced UV sensitivity on certain backgrounds.

hep-th↗
arXiv2014

Suppression of Quantum Corrections by Classical Backgrounds

We use heat-kernel techniques in order to compute the one-loop effective action in the cubic Galileon theory for a background that realizes the Vainshtein mechanism. We find that the UV divergences are suppressed relative to the predictions of standard perturbation theory at length scales below the Vainshtein radius.

hep-th↗
arXiv2010

Effective cosmological equations of induced f(R) gravity

We expand the study of generalized brane cosmologies by allowing for an $f(\tilde{\cal R})$ gravity term on the brane, with $\tilde{\cal R}$ the curvature scalar derived from the induced metric. We also include arbitrary matter components on the brane and in the five-dimensional bulk. At low energies, the effect of the bulk on the brane evolution can be described through a mirage component, termed generalized dark radiation, in the effective four-dimensional field equations. Using the covariant formalism, we derive the exact form of these equations. We also derive an effective conservation equation involving the brane matter and the generalized dark radiation. At low energies the coupled brane-bulk system has a purely four-dimensional description. The applications of the formalism include generalizations of the Starobinsky model and the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati cosmology.

hep-th↗
arXiv2010

Inhomogeneities and cosmological expansion

I review work on the influence of inhomogeneities in the matter distribution on the determination of the luminosity distance of faraway sources, and the connection to the perceived cosmological acceleration.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2010

Light Propagation and Large-Scale Inhomogeneities

We consider the effect on the propagation of light of inhomogeneities with sizes of order 10 Mpc or larger. The Universe is approximated through a variation of the Swiss-cheese model. The spherical inhomogeneities are void-like, with central underdensities surrounded by compensating overdense shells. We study the propagation of light in this background, assuming that the source and the observer occupy random positions, so that each beam travels through several inhomogeneities at random angles. The distribution of luminosity distances for sources with the same redshift is asymmetric, with a peak at a value larger than the average one. The width of the distribution and the location of the maximum increase with increasing redshift and length scale of the inhomogeneities. We compute the induced dispersion and bias on cosmological parameters derived from the supernova data. They are too small to explain the perceived acceleration without dark energy, even when the length scale of the inhomogeneities is comparable to the horizon distance. Moreover, the dispersion and bias induced by gravitational lensing at the scales of galaxies or clusters of galaxies are larger by at least an order of magnitude.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2008

Effective Field Theory with a Variable Ultraviolet Cutoff

The properties of strongly gravitating systems suggest that field theory overcounts the states of a system. Reducing the number of degrees of freedom, without abandoning the notion of effective field theory, may be achieved through a connection between the ultraviolet and infrared cutoffs. We provide an implementation of this idea within the Wilsonian approach to the renormalization group. We derive an exact flow equation that describes the evolution of the effective action. We discuss the implications for the existence of infrared fixed points and the running of couplings. We also give an alternative derivation in the context of the perturbative renormalization group.

hep-th↗
arXiv2008

Anomalous anomalous scaling?

Motivated by speculations about infrared deviations from the standard behavior of local quantum field theories, we explore the possibility that such effects might show up as an anomalous running of coupling constants. The most sensitive probes are presently given by the anomalous magnetic moments of the electron and the muon, that suggest that alpha_{em} runs 1.00047 +- 0.00018 times faster than predicted by the Standard Model. The running of alpha_{em} and alpha_s up to the weak scale is confirmed with a precision at the % level.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

Gravitational corrections to Standard Model vacuum decay

We refine and update the metastability constraint on the Standard Model top and Higgs masses, by analytically including gravitational corrections to the vacuum decay rate. Present best-fit ranges of the top and Higgs masses mostly lie in the narrow metastable region. Furthermore, we show that the SM potential can be fine-tuned in order to be made suitable for inflation. However, SM inflation results in a power spectrum of cosmological perturbations not consistent with observations.

hep-ph↗