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Raymond R. Volkas

Publications and source records attributed to Raymond R. Volkas.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
arXiv2010

Fermion masses and mixing in a 4+1-dimensional SU(5) domain-wall brane model

We study the fermion mass and mixing hierarchy problems within the context of the SU(5) 4+1d domain-wall brane model of Davies, George and Volkas. In this model, the ordinary fermion mass relations of SU(5) grand unified theories are avoided since the masses are proportional to overlap integrals of the profiles of the electroweak Higgs and the chiral components of each fermion, which are split into different 3+1d hyperplanes according to their hypercharges. We show that the fermion mass hierarchy without electroweak mixing can be generated naturally from these splittings, that generation of the CKM matrix looks promising, and that the Cabibbo angle along with the mass hierarchy can be generated for the case of Majorana neutrinos from a more modest hierarchy of parameters. We also show that under some assumptions made on the parameter space, the generation of realistic lepton mixing angles is not possible without fine-tuning, which argues for a flavour symmetry to enforce the required relations.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Domain-wall branes in Lifshitz theories

We analyze whether or not Lifshitz field theories in 4 + 1 dimensions may provide ultraviolet-complete domain-wall brane models. We first show that Lifshitz scalar field theory can admit topologically stable domain wall solutions. A Lifshitz fermion field is then added to the toy model, and we demonstrate that 3+1- dimensional Kaluza-Klein zero mode solutions do not exist when the four spatial dimensions are treated isotropically. To recover 3 + 1-dimensional chiral fermions dynamically localized to the domain wall, we must postulate the breaking of full 4-dimensional rotational symmetry down to the subgroup of rotations which mix the usual 3-dimensional spatial directions and fix the extra-dimensional axis in addition to the anisotropy between space and time.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Stable mass hierarchies and dark matter from hidden sectors in the scale-invariant standard model

Scale invariance may be a classical symmetry which is broken radiatively. This provides a simple way to stabilise the scale of electroweak symmetry breaking against radiative corrections. But for such a theory to be fully realistic, it must actually incorporate a hierarchy of scales, including the Planck and the neutrino mass scales in addition to the electroweak scale. The dark matter sector and the physics responsible for baryogenesis may or may not require new scales, depending on the scenario. We develop a generic way of using hidden sectors to construct a technically-natural hierarchy of scales in the framework of classically scale-invariant theories. We then apply the method to generate the Planck mass and to solve the neutrino mass and dark matter problems through what may be termed the "scale-invariant standard model". The model is perturbatively renormalisable for energy scales up to the Planck mass.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Neutrino masses and sparticle spectra from stochastic superspace

Based on the stochastic superspace mechanism for softly breaking supersymmetry, we present improved sparticle spectra computations for the minimal model and examine extensions through R-parity violation and the type-I seesaw mechanism that incorporate non-zero neutrino masses for more realistic models. Performing the calculations to two-loop accuracy, we observe a global decrease in predicted sparticle masses. However this does not affect the generic features of the minimal model outlined in our earlier work, including the characteristic light stop mass. We find stop decay channels accessible at the LHC which can be used in combination with our predicted range for the stop mixing angle to falsify the minimal model with stochastic supersymmetry. We then introduce neutrino masses and mixings consistent with experiment by including purely trilinear R-parity violating superpotential terms, resulting in a viable stochastic superspace model absent a dark matter candidate. An alternative method for generating neutrino masses, namely the type-I seesaw mechanism, is found only to be viable when the neutrino Yukawa coupling is small relative to the top Yukawa and the cut-off scale is large.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2009

SO(10) domain-wall brane models

We construct domain-wall brane models based on the grand-unification group SO(10), generalising the SU(5) model of Davies, George and Volkas. Motivated by the Dvali-Shifman proposal for the dynamical localisation of gauge bosons, the SO(10) symmetry is spontaneously broken inside the wall. We present two scenarios: in the first, the unbroken subgroup inside the wall is SU(5) x U(1)X, and in the second it is the left-right symmetry group SU(3) x SU(2)L x SU(2)R x U(1)B-L. In both cases we demonstrate that the phenomenologically-correct fermion zero modes can be localised to the wall, and we briefly discuss how the symmetry-breaking dynamics may be extended to induce breaking to the standard model group with subsequent electroweak breaking. Dynamically localised gravity is realised through the type 2 Randall-Sundrum mechanism.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2009

Vector-Field Domain Walls

We argue that spontaneous Lorentz violation may generally lead to metastable domain walls related to the simultaneous violation of some accompanying discrete symmetries. Remarkably, such domain wall solutions exist for space-like Lorentz violation and do not exist for the time-like violation. Because a preferred space direction is spontaneously induced, these domain walls have no planar symmetry and produce a peculiar static gravitational field at small distances, while their long-distance gravity appears the same as for regular scalar-field walls. Some possible applications of vector-field domain walls are briefly discussed.

hep-th↗
arXiv2009

Soft supersymmetry breaking from stochastic superspace

We propose a new realization of softly broken supersymmetric theories as theories defined on stochastic superspace. At the classical level, the supersymmetry breaking is parameterized in terms of a single (in general complex) mass parameter, $ξ$, describing the stochasticity of the Grassmannian superspace coordinates. In the context of the standard model with stochastic supersymmetry, the structure of the soft breaking terms has various characteristic features that can be tested in LHC experiments. Namely, at the classical level, the $B_μ$ parameter, the universal soft trilinear coupling $A_0$, the universal gaugino mass $m_{1/2}$ and the universal scalar mass $m_0$ are given solely in terms of $ξ$; there are no other arbitrary parameters. The relations are $B_μ= ξ^*$, $A_0 = 2ξ^*$, $m_{1/2} = |ξ|/2$ and $m_0 = 0$. At the quantum level, these relations hold at a certain scale $Λ$ which is a second free parameter. The soft scalar masses, zero at tree-level, are induced radiatively through the renormalization group equations at one-loop. With this pattern of soft breaking terms, large supersymmetric contributions to FCNC processes are avoided. As a concrete illustration of the proposed formalism, we consider a minimal model, which is just the constrained MSSM with the stochastic superspace relations amongst the soft-breaking parameters imposed at the scale $Λ$. We show that this theory is phenomenologically viable for a certain region in the $(ξ,Λ)$ parameter space. Some sensible extensions of the minimal model are then briefly discussed.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2009

Extra-dimensional cosmology with domain-wall branes

We show how to define a consistent braneworld cosmology in a model in which the brane is constructed as a field-theoretic domain wall of finite thickness. The Friedmann, Robertson-Walker metric is recovered in the region of the brane, but, remarkably, with scale factor that depends on particle energy and on particle species, constituting a breakdown of the weak equivalence principle on sufficiently small scales. This unusual effect comes from the extended nature of particles confined to a domain-wall brane, and the fact that they feel an "average" of the bulk spacetime. We demonstrate how to recover the standard results of brane cosmology in the infinitely-thin brane limit, and comment on how our results have the potential to place bounds on parameters such as the thickness of domain-wall braneworlds.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

Determining the heavy seesaw neutrino mass matrix from low-energy parameters

We explore how the seesaw sector in neutrino mass models may be constrained through symmetries to be completely determined in terms of low-energy mass, mixing angle and CP-violating phase observables. The key ingredients are intra-family symmetries to determine the neutrino Dirac mass matrix in terms of the charged-lepton or quark mass matrices, together with inter-family or flavor symmetries to determine diagonalization matrices. Implications for leptogenesis and collider detection of heavy neutral leptons are discussed. We show that leptogenesis can succeed in small regions of parameter space for the case where the neutrino Dirac mass matrix equals the up-quark mass matrix. The model where the neutrino Dirac mass matrix equals the charged-lepton mass matrix can yield a heavy neutral lepton as light as about 1 TeV, but detecting such a particle will be difficult.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

Neutrinos and Gamma Rays from Galaxy Clusters

The next generation of neutrino and gamma-ray detectors should provide new insights into the creation and propagation of high-energy protons within galaxy clusters, probing both the particle physics of cosmic rays interacting with the background medium and the mechanisms for high-energy particle production within the cluster. In this paper we examine the possible detection of gamma-rays (via the GLAST satellite) and neutrinos (via the ICECUBE and Auger experiments) from the Coma cluster of galaxies, as well as for the gamma-ray bright clusters Abell 85, 1758, and 1914. These three were selected from their possible association with unidentified EGRET sources, so it is not yet entirely certain that their gamma-rays are indeed produced diffusively within the intracluster medium, as opposed to AGNs. It is not obvious why these inconspicuous Abell-clusters should be the first to be seen in gamma-rays, but a possible reason is that all of them show direct evidence of recent or ongoing mergers. Their identification with the EGRET gamma-ray sources is also supported by the close correlation between their radio and (purported) gamma-ray fluxes. Under favorable conditions (including a proton spectral index of 2.5 in the case of Abell 85, and sim 2.3 for Coma, and Abell 1758 and 1914), we expect ICECUBE to make as many as 0.3 neutrino detections per year from the Coma cluster of galaxies, and as many as a few per year from the Abell clusters 85, 1758, and 1914. Also, Auger may detect as many as 2 events per decade at ~ EeV energies from these gamma-ray bright clusters.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2008

The standard model on a domain-wall brane?

We propose a 4+1-dimensional action that is a candidate for realising a standard-model-like effective theory for fields dynamically localised to a domain-wall brane. Our construction is based in part on the conjecture that the Dvali-Shifman mechanism for dynamically localising gauge bosons works correctly in 4+1-d. Assuming this to be so, we require the gauge symmetry to be SU(5)in the bulk, spontaneously breaking to SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) inside the domain wall, thus dynamically localising the standard model gauge bosons provided that the SU(5) theory in the bulk exhibits confinement. The wall is created jointly by a real singlet-Higgs field eta configured as a kink, and an SU(5) adjoint-Higgs field chi that takes nonzero values inside the wall. Chiral 3+1-dimensional quarks and leptons are confined and split along the bulk direction via their Yukawa couplings to eta and chi. The Higgs doublet and its colour triplet SU(5) partner are similarly localised and split. The splittings suppress coloured-Higgs-induced proton decay and, because of the different localisation profiles, the usual SU(5) mass relation m_e = m_d does not arise. Localised gravity is generated via the Randall-Sundrum alternative to compactification.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

SU(5) grand unification on a domain-wall brane from an E_6-invariant action

An SU(5) grand unification scheme for effective 3+1-dimensional fields dynamically localised on a domain-wall brane is constructed. This is achieved through the confluence of the clash-of-symmetries mechanism for symmetry breaking through domain-wall formation, and the Dvali-Shifman gauge-boson localisation idea. It requires an E_6 gauge-invariant action, yielding a domain-wall solution that has E_6 broken to differently embedded SO(10) x U(1) subgroups in the two bulk regions on opposite sides of the wall. On the wall itself, the unbroken symmetry is the intersection of the two bulk subgroups, and contains SU(5). A 4+1-dimensional fermion family in the 27 of E_6 gives rise to localised left-handed zero-modes in the 5^* + 10 + 1 + 1 representation of SU(5). The remaining ten fermion components of the 27 are delocalised exotic states, not appearing in the effective 3+1-dimensional theory on the domain-wall brane. The scheme is compatible with the type-2 Randall-Sundrum mechanism for graviton localisation; the single extra dimension is infinite.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

A solution to the hierarchy problem from an almost decoupled hidden sector within a classically scale invariant theory

If scale invariance is a classical symmetry then both the Planck scale and the weak scale should emerge as quantum effects. We show that this can be realized in simple scale invariant theories with a hidden sector. The weak/Planck scale hierarchy emerges in the (technically natural) limit where the hidden sector decouples from the ordinary sector. The weak scale is protected from quadratic divergences because of classical scale invariance, so there is no hierarchy problem.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

Electroweak Higgs as a pseudo-Goldstone boson of broken scale invariance

We point out that it is possible to associate the electroweak Higgs boson with the pseudo-Goldstone boson of broken scale invariance, thus resolving the hierarchy problem in a technically natural way. We illustrate this idea with two specific gauge models. Besides being consistent with all currently available experimental data, both models maintain the predictive power of the standard model, since the first model has only one additional parameter beyond the standard model, and the second has the same number of free parameters as the standard model.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

Kink modes and effective four dimensional fermion and Higgs brane models

In the construction of a classical smoothed out brane world model in five dimensions, one uses a dynamically generated domain wall (a kink) to localise an effective four dimensional theory. At the level of the Euler-Lagrange equations the kink sets up a potential well, a mechanism which has been employed extensively to obtain localised, four dimensional, massless chiral fermions. We present the generalisation of this kink trapping mechanism for both scalar and fermionic fields, and retain all degrees of freedom that were present in the higher dimensional theory. We show that a kink background induces a symmetric modified Poschl-Teller potential well, and give explicit analytic forms for all the bound modes and a restricted set of the continuum modes. We demonstrate that it is possible to confine an effective four dimensional scalar field with a quartic potential of arbitrary shape. This can be used to place the standard model electroweak Higgs field on the brane, and also generate nested kink solutions. We also consider the limits of the parameters in the theory which give thin kinks and localised and de-localised scalar and fermionic fields.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

Cosmology and Fermion Confinement in a Scalar-Field-Generated Domain Wall Brane in Five Dimensions

We consider a brane generated by a scalar field domain wall configuration in 4+1 dimensions, interpolating, in most cases, between two vacua of the field. We study the cosmology of such a system in the cases where the effective four-dimensional brane metric is de Sitter or anti de Sitter, including a discussion of the bulk coordinate singularities present in the de-Sitter case. We demonstrate that a scalar field kink configuration can support a brane with dS$_4$ cosmology, despite the presence of coordinate singularities in the metric. We examine the trapping of fermion fields on the domain wall for nontrivial brane cosmology.

hep-ph↗