arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Tomislav Prokopec.
We calculate the response functions of a freely falling Unruh detector in de Sitter space coupled to scalar fields of different coupling to the curvature, including the minimally coupled massless case. Although the responses differ strongly in the infrared as a consequence of the amplification of superhorizon modes, the energy levels of the detector are thermally populated.
We derive transport equations for fermionic systems with a space-time dependent mass matrix in flavor space allowing for complex elements leading to CP violation required for electroweak baryogenesis. By constructing appropriate projectors in flavor space of the relevant tree level Kadanoff-Baym equations, we split the constraint equations into "diagonal" and "transversal" parts in flavor space, and show that they decouple. While the diagonal densities exhibit standard dispersion relations at leading order in gradients, the transverse densities exhibit a novel on-shell structure. Next, the kinetic equations are considered to second order in gradients and the CP-violating source terms are isolated. This requires a thorough discussion of a flavor independent definition of charge-parity symmetry operation. To make a link with baryogenesis in the supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, we construct the Green functions for the leading order kinetic operator and solve the kinetic equations for two mixing fermions (charginos). We take account of flavor blind damping, and consider the cases of inefficient and moderate diffusion. The resulting densities are the CP-violating chargino currents that source baryogenesis.
We present a new mechanism for baryogenesis: at preheating after inflation fermions acquire a varying mass by their coupling to a time dependent field. Their CP-violating mass matrix can generate a charge asymmetry to be transformed into a lepton asymmetry through decay into standard model particles and heavy Majorana neutrinos. In a concrete model of hybrid inflation we compare ``coherent baryogenesis'' with nonthermal leptogenesis by perturbative decay of the inflation condensates.
We argue that the dynamics of photons canonically coupled to scalars in de Sitter inflation gets modified by a photon mass term. This might have lead to generation of potentially observable magnetic field correlated over cosmological scales today.
We consider the response of an Unruh detector to scalar fields in an expanding space-time. When combining transition elements of the scalar field Hamiltonian with the interaction operator of detector and field, one finds at second order in time-dependent perturbation theory a transition amplitude, which actually dominates in the ultraviolet over the first order contribution. In particular, the detector response faithfully reproduces the particle number implied by the stress-energy of a minimally coupled scalar field, which is inversely proportional to the energy of a scalar mode. This finding disagrees with the contention that in de Sitter space, the response of the detector drops exponentially with particle energy and therefore indicates a thermal spectrum.
We calculate the one-loop vacuum polarization tensor of scalar electrodynamics in a locally de Sitter space-time, endowed with a nearly minimally coupled, light scalar field. We show that the photon dynamics is well approximated by a (local) Proca Lagrangean. Since the photon mass can be much larger than the Hubble parameter, the photons may propagate slowly during inflation. Finally, we briefly discuss magnetic field generation on cosmological scales, and point out that, while the spectrum of the magnetic field is identical to that obtained from the massless scalar, B_l ~ B_0/l, the amplitude B_0 may be significantly enhanced, implying that the seed field bound for the galactic dynamo can be easily met.
We propose a new mechanism for magnetic field generation from inflation, by which strong magnetic fields can be generated on cosmological scales. These fields may be observable by cosmic microwave background radition measurements, and may have a dynamical impact on structure formation. The mechanism is based on the observation that a light nearly minimally coupled charged scalar may be responsible for the creation of a negative photon mass-squared (provided the scalar field coupling to the curvature scalar is small but negative), which in turn results in abundant photon production - and thus in growing magnetic fields - during inflation.
We propose a new baryogenesis scenario based on coherent production and mixing of different fermionic species. The mechanism is operative during phase transitions, at which the fermions acquire masses via Yukawa couplings to scalar fields. Baryon production is efficient when the mass matrix is nonadiabatically varying, nonsymmetric and when it violates CP and B-L directly, or some other charges that are eventually converted to B-L. We first consider a toy model, which involves two mixing fermionic species, and then a hybrid inflationary scenario embedded in a supersymmetric Pati-Salam GUT. We show that, quite generically, a baryon excess in accordance with observation can result.
We study asymptotic dynamics of photons propagating in the polarized vacuum of a locally de Sitter Universe. The origin of the vacuum polarization is fluctuations of a massless, minimally coupled, scalar, which we model by the one-loop vacuum polarization tensor of scalar electrodynamics. We show that late time dynamics of the electric field on superhorizon scales approaches that of an Airy oscillator. The magentic field amplitude, on the other hand, asymptotically approaches a nonvanishing constant (plus an exponentially small oscillatory component), which is suppressed with respect to the initial (vacuum) amplitude. This implies that the asymptotic photon dynamics is more intricate than that of a massive photon obeying the local Proca equation.
The first principle derivation of kinetic transport equations suggests that a CP-violating mass term during the electroweak phase transition can induce axial vector currents. Since the important terms are of first order in gradients there is a possibility to construct new rephasing invariants that are proportional to the CP phase in the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix and to circumvent the upper bound of CP-violating contributions in the Standard Model, the Jarlskog invariant. Qualitative arguments are given that these new contributions still fail to explain electroweak baryogenesis in extensions of the Standard Model with a strong first order phase transition.
After a short review of baryogenesis mechanisms, we focus on the charge transport mechanism at the electroweak scale, effective at strong electroweak phase transitions. Starting from the one-loop Schwinger-Dyson equations for fermions coupled to bosons, we present a derivation of the relevant kinetic equations in the on-shell and gradient approximations, relevant for the thick wall baryogenesis regime. We then discuss the CP-violating source from the semiclassical force in the flow term, and compare it with the source arising in the collision term of the kinetic equation. Finally, we summarize the results concerning the chargino mediated baryogenesis in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.
After a short review of electroweak scale baryogenesis, we consider the dynamics of chiral fermions coupled to a complex scalar field through the standard Yukawa interaction term at a strongly first order electroweak phase transition. By performing a systematic gradient expansion we can use this simple model to study electroweak scale baryogenesis. We show that the dominant sources for electroweak baryogenesis appear at linear order in the Planck constant h-bar. We provide explicit expressions for the sources both in the flow term and in the collision term of the relevant kinetic Boltzmann equation. Finally, we indicate how the kinetic equation sources appear in the fluid transport equations used for baryogenesis calculations.
We consider vacuum polarization from massless scalar electrodynamics in de Sitter inflation. The theory exhibits a 3+1 dimensional analogue of the Schwinger mechanism in which a photon mass is dynamically generated. The mechanism is generic for light scalar fields that couple minimally to gravity. The non-vanishing of the photon mass during inflation may result in magnetic fields on cosmological scales.
We derive a semiclassical transport equation for fermions propagating in the presence of a CP-violating planar bubble wall at a first order electroweak phase transition. Starting from the Kadanoff-Baym (KB) equation for the two-point (Wightman) function we perform an expansion in gradients, or equivalently in the Planck constant h-bar. We show that to first order in h-bar the KB equations have a spectral solution, which allows for an on-shell description of the plasma excitations. The CP-violating force acting on these excitations is found to be enhanced by a boost factor in comparison with the 1+1-dimensional case studied in a former paper. We find that an identical semiclassical force can be obtained by the WKB method. Applications to the MSSM are also mentioned.
We consider the dynamics of fermions with a spatially varying mass which couple to bosons through a Yukawa interaction term and perform a consistent weak coupling truncation of the relevant kinetic equations. We then use a gradient expansion and derive the CP-violating source in the collision term for fermions which appears at first order in gradients. The collisional sources together with the semiclassical force constitute the CP-violating sources relevant for baryogenesis at the electroweak scale. We discuss also the absence of sources at first order in gradients in the scalar equation, and the limitations of the relaxation time approximation.
We review and extend to include the gauge fields our derivation of the semiclassical limit of the collisionless quantum transport equations for the fermions in presence of a CP-violating bubble wall at a first order electroweak phase transition. We show how the (gradient correction modified) Lorenz-force appears both in the Schwinger-Keldysh approach and in the semiclassical WKB-treatment. In the latter approach the inclusion of gauge fields removes the apparent phase reparametrization dependence of the intermediate calculations. We also discuss setting up the fluid equations for practical calculations in electroweak baryogenesis including the self-consistent (hyper)electric field and the anomaly.
We perform a systematic gradient expansion on kinetic equations and derive the CP-violating semiclassical force for fermions propagating in presence of a CP-violating wall at a first order electroweak phase transition. The force appears at order h-bar in the flow term of the kinetic equation and agrees with the semiclassical force used for baryogenesis computations. In particular we consider the force for charginos in both the MSSM and NMSSM. We then study the continuity equations for the vector and axial vector currents and stress the role of the latter as the one containing baryogenesis sources. We also show that there is no CP-violating force for bosons to order h-bar in gradient expansion.
We consider several gauge invariant higher dimensional operators that couple gravity, gauge fields and scalar or fermionic fields and thus break conformal invariance. In particular, we consider terms that break conformal invariance by the photon coupling to heavy and light fermions. While the coupling to heavy fermions typically do not induce significant magnetic fields, the coupling to light fermions may produce observable magnetic fields when there are a few hundred light fermions. Next we consider Planck scale modifications of the kinetic gauge terms of the form f(phi) F_{mu nu} F^{mu nu} and h(psi) F_{mu nu} F^{mu nu}, where f and h are functions of scalar and pseudoscalar fields phi, psi, and F_{mu nu}, ~F^{mu nu} are the gauge field strength and its dual, respectively. For a suitable choice of f sufficiently strong magnetic fields may be produced in inflation to be potentially observable today. The pseudoscalar coupling may lead to birefringence in inflation, but no observable magnetic field amplification. Finally, we show that the photon coupling to metric perturbations produces by far too weak fields to be of cosmological interest.