arXiv subjects

Zurab Berezhiani

Publications and source records attributed to Zurab Berezhiani.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Project X: Physics Opportunities

Part 2 of "Project X: Accelerator Reference Design, Physics Opportunities, Broader Impacts". In this Part, we outline the particle-physics program that can be achieved with Project X, a staged superconducting linac for intensity-frontier particle physics. Topics include neutrino physics, kaon physics, muon physics, electric dipole moments, neutron-antineutron oscillations, new light particles, hadron structure, hadron spectroscopy, and lattice-QCD calculations. Part 1 is available as arXiv:1306.5022 [physics.acc-ph] and Part 3 is available as arXiv:1306.5024 [physics.acc-ph].

hep-ex↗

arXiv2016

Gauged B-L Number and Neutron--Antineutron Oscillation: Long-range Forces Mediated by Baryophotons

Transformation of neutron to antineutron is a small effect that has not yet been experimentally observed. %\cite{Phillips:2014fgb}. In principle, it can occur with free neutrons in the vacuum or with bound neutrons inside the nuclear environment different for neutrons and antineutrons and for that reason in the latter case it is heavily suppressed. Free neutron transformation also can be suppressed if environmental vector field exists destinguishing neutron from antineutron. We consider here the case of a vector field coupled to $B-L$ charge of the particles ($B-L$ photons) and study a possibility of this to lead to the observable suppression of neutron to antineutron transformation. The suppression effect however can be removed by applying external magnetic field. If the neutron--antineutron oscillation will be discovered in free neutron oscillation experiments, this will imply limits on $B-L$ photon coupling constant and interaction radius few order of magnitudes stronger than present limits form the tests of the equivalence principle. If $n-\bar n$ oscillation will be discovered via nuclear instability, but not in free neutron oscillations in corresponding level, this would indicate to the presence of fifth-forces mediated by such baryophotons.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Anti-dark matter: a hidden face of mirror world

B and L violating interactions of ordinary particles with their twin particles from hypothetical mirror world can co-generate baryon asymmetries in both worlds in comparable amounts, $Ω'_B/Ω_B \sim 5$ or so. On the other hand, the same interactions induce the oscillation phenomena between the neutral particles of two sectors which convert e.g. mirror neutrons into our antineutrons. These oscillations are environment dependent and can have fascinating physical consequences.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

Chances for SUSY-GUT in the LHC Epoch

The magic couple of SUSY and GUT still appears the most elegant and predictive physics concept beyond the Standard Model. Since up to now LHC found no evidence for supersymmetric particles it becomes of particular relevance to determine an upper bound of the energy scale they have to show up. In particular, we have analyzed a generic SUSY-GUT model assuming one step unification like in SU(5), and adopting naturalness principles, we have obtained general bounds on the mass spectrum of SUSY particles. We claim that if a SUSY gauge coupling unification takes place, the lightest gluino or Higgsino cannot have a mass larger than about 20 TeV. Such a limit is of interest for planning new accelerator machines.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Neutron-Antineutron Oscillation as a Signal of CP Violation

Assuming the Lorentz and CPT invariances we show that neutron-antineutron oscillation implies breaking of CP along with baryon number violation -- i.e. two of Sakharov conditions for baryogenesis. The oscillation is produced by the unique operator in the effective Hamiltonian. This operator mixing neutron and antineutron preserves charge conjugation C and breaks P and T. External magnetic field always leads to suppression of oscillations. Its presence does not lead to any new operator mixing neutron and antineutron.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Neutron-antineutron Oscillation and Baryonic Majoron: Low Scale Spontaneous Baryon Violation

We discuss a possibility that baryon number $B$ is spontaneously broken at low scales, of the order of MeV or even smaller, so that the neutron-antineutron oscillation can be induced at the experimentally accessible level. An associated Goldstone particle, baryonic majoron, can have observable effects in neutron to antineutron transitions in nuclei or dense nuclear matter. By extending baryon number to $B-L$ symmetry, baryo-majoron can be identified with the ordinary majoron associated with the spontaneous breaking of lepton number, with interesting implications for neutrinoless $2β$ becay with the majoron emission, etc. We also discuss a hypothesis suggesting that baryon number maybe spontaneously broken by the QCD itself via the six-quark condensates.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Shadow dark matter, sterile neutrinos and neutrino events at IceCube

The excess of high energy neutrinos observed by the IceCube collaboration might originate from baryon number violating decays of heavy shadow baryons from dark mirror sector which produce shadow neutrinos. These sterile neutrino species then oscillate into ordinary neutrinos transferring to them specific features of their spectrum. In particular, this scenario can explain the end of the spectrum above 2 PeV and the presence of the energy gap between 400 TeV and 1 PeV.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

Dark matter and generation of galactic magnetic fields

A new scenario for creation of galactic magnetic fields is proposed which is operative at the cosmological epoch of the galaxy formation, and which relies on unconventional properties of dark matter. Namely, it requires existence of feeble but long range interaction between the dark matter particles and electrons. In particular, millicharged dark matter particles or mirror particles with the photon kinetic mixing to the usual photon can be considered. We show that in rotating protogalaxies circular electric currents can be generated by the interactions of free electrons with dark matter particles in the halo, while the impact of such interactions on galactic protons is considerably weaker. The induced currents may be strong enough to create the observed magnetic fields on the galaxy scales with the help of moderate dynamo amplification. In addition, the angular momentum transfer from the rotating gas to dark matter component could change the dark matter profile and formation of cusps at galactic centers would be inhibited. The global motion of the ionized gas could produce sufficiently large magnetic fields also in filaments and galaxy clusters.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2013

BBN with light dark matter

Effects of light millicharged dark matter particles on primordial nucleosynthesis are considered. It is shown that if the mass of such particles is much smaller than the electron mass, they lead to strong overproduction of Helium-4. An agreement with observations can be achieved by non-vanishing lepton asymmetry. Baryon-to-photon ratio at BBN and neutrino- to-photon ratio both at BBN and at recombination are noticeably different as compared to the standard cosmological model. The latter ratio and possible lepton asymmetry could be checked by Planck. For higher mass of new particles the effect is much less pronounced and may even have opposite sign.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Neutron Oscillations to Parallel World: Earlier End to the Cosmic Ray Spectrum?

Present experimental data do not exclude fast oscillation of the neutron $n$ to its degenerate twin from a hypothetical parallel sector, the so called mirror neutron $n'$. We show that this effect brings to a remarkable modifications of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray spectrum testable by the present Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO) and Telescope Array (TA) detector, and the future JEM-EUSO experiment. In particular, the baryon non-conservation during UHECR propagation at large cosmological distances shifts the beginning of the GZK cutoff to lower energies, while in presence of mirror sources it may enhance the spectrum at $E \gtrsim 100$ EeV. As a consequence, a significant reduction of the expected diffuse cosmogenic neutrino flux is predicted.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Gravity Modification with Yukawa-type Potential: Dark Matter and Mirror Gravity

The nature of the gravitational interaction between ordinary and dark matter is still open. Any deviation from universality or the Newtonian law also modifies the standard assumption of collisionless dark matter. On the other hand, obtaining a Yukawa-like large-distance modification of the gravitational potential is a nontrivial problem, that has so far eluded a consistent realization even at linearized level. We propose here a theory providing a Yukawa-like potential, by coupling non-derivatively the two metric fields related respectively to the visible and dark matter sectors, in the context of massive gravity theories where the local Lorentz invariance is broken by the different coexisting backgrounds. This gives rise to the appropriate mass pattern in the gravitational sector, producing a healthy theory with the Yukawa potential. Our results are of a special relevance in the scenario of dark matter originated from the mirror world, an exact duplicate of the ordinary particle sector.

hep-th↗

arXiv2010

Mirror Matter, Mirror Gravity and Galactic Rotational Curves

We discuss astrophysical implications of the modified gravity model in which the two matter components, ordinary and dark, couple to separate gravitational fields that mix to each other through small mass terms. There are two spin-2 eigenstates: the massless graviton that induces universal Newtonian attraction, and the massive one that gives rise to the Yukawa-like potential which is repulsive between the ordinary and dark bodies. As a result the distances much smaller than the Yukawa radius $r_m$ the gravitation strength between the two types of matter becomes vanishing. If $r_m \sim 10$ kpc, a typical size of a galaxy, there are interesting implications for the nature of dark matter. In particular, one can avoid the problem of the cusp that is typical for the cold dark matter halos. Interestingly, the flat shape of the rotational curves can be explained even in the case of the collisional and dissipative dark matter (as e.g. mirror matter) that cannot give the extended halos but instead must form galactic discs similarly to the visible matter. The observed rotational curves for the large, medium-size and dwarf galaxies can be nicely reproduced. We also briefly discuss possible implications for the direct search of dark matter.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

More about neutron - mirror neutron oscillation

It was pointed out recently that oscillation of the neutron $n$ into mirror neutron $n'$, a sterile twin of the neutron with exactly the same mass, could be a very fast process with the the baryon number violation, even faster than the neutron decay itself. This process is sensitive to the magnetic fields and it could be observed by comparing the neutron lose rates in the UCN storage chambers for different magnetic backgrounds. We calculate the probability of $n-n'$ oscillation in the case when a mirror magnetic field $\vec{B}'$ is non-zero and show that in this case it can be suppressed or resonantly enhanced by applying the ordinary magnetic field $\vec{B}$, depending on its strength and on its orientation with respect to $\vec{B}'$. The recent experimental data, under this hypothesis, still allow the $n-n'$ oscillation time order 1 s or even smaller. Moreover, they indicate that the neutron losses are sensitive to the orientation of the magnetic field. %at about $3σ$ level. If these hints will be confirmed in the future experiments, this would point to the presence of the mirror magnetic field on the Earth of the order of 0.1 G, or some equivalent spin-dependent force of the other origin that makes a difference between the neutron and mirror neutron states.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

Cosmological bounds on the "millicharges" of mirror particles

Mirror world, a parallel hidden sector with microphysics identical to ordinary particle physics, can have several interesting phenomenological and astrophysical implications and mirror matter can be a natural candidate for dark matter in the universe. If the ordinary and the mirror photons have a kinetic mixing due to the Lagrangian term $(ε/2) F_{μν} F'^{μν}$, then mirror particles effectively acquire the electric charges $\sim ε$ with respect to the ordinary photon, so that they become a sort of particles historically coined as "millicharged" though nowadays they must be called more appropriately as "nanocharged". In this paper we revise the cosmological bounds on the kinetic mixing parameter and in the case of exact mirror parity set an upper limit $ε< 3 \times 10^{-10}$. Much weaker limit can be obtained in the case of asymmetric mirror sector, with an electroweak symmetry breaking scale larger than the ordinary electroweak scale.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Marriage between the baryonic and dark matters

The baryonic and dark matter fractions in the universe can be both generated by the same baryogenesis mechanism, simultaneously and with comparable amounts, if dark matter is constituted by the baryons of the mirror world, a parallel hidden sector with the same (or similar) microphysics as that of the observable world.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Soft SUSY breaking contributions to proton decay

We show that in supersymmetric grand unified theories new effective D=4 and D=5 operators for proton decay are induced by soft SUSY-breaking terms, when heavy GUT gauge bosons are integrated out, in addition to the standard D=6 ones. As a result, the proton lifetime in gauge mediated channels can be enhanced or even suppressed depending on the size of the heavy Higgses soft terms.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Evolutionary and structural properties of mirror star MACHOs

There can exist a hidden sector of the Universe in the form of parallel ''mirror'' world which has the same particle physics as the observable world and interacts with the latter only gravitationally. Big Bang Nucleosynthesis bounds demand that the mirror sector should have a smaller temperature than the ordinary one. This implies that the mirror matter could play a role of dark matter, and in addition its chemical content should be dominated by helium. Here we study the evolutionary and structural properties of the mirror stars which essentially are similar to that of the ordinary stars but with higher helium contents. Being invisible in terms of photons, they could be observed only as MACHOs in the microlensing experiments. Using a numerical code, we compute evolution of stars with large helium abundances (Y = 0.30-0.80) and a wide range of masses, from 0.5 to 10 solar masses. We found that helium dominated mirror star should have much faster evolutionary time (up to a factor 30) than the ordinary star with the same mass. In addition, we show the diagrams of luminosities, effective temperatures, central temperatures and densities, and compute the masses of the He core at ignition and the minimum mass for carbon ignition, for different chemical compositions. The general conclusion is that mirror stars evolve faster as compared to ordinary ones, and explode earlier as type II supernovae, thus enriching the galactic halo of processed mirror gas with higher metallicity, with implications for MACHO observations and galaxy evolution.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Fast Neutron - Mirror Neutron Oscillation and Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays

If there exists the mirror world, a parallel hidden sector of particles with exactly the same microphysics as that of the observable particles, then the primordial nucleosynthesis constraints require that the temperature of the cosmic background of mirror relic photons should be smaller than that of the ordinary relic photons, T'/T < 0.5 or so. On the other hand, the present experimental and astrophysical limits allow a rather fast neutron - mirror neutron oscillation in vacuum, with an oscillation time $τ\sim 1$ s, much smaller than the neutron lifetime. We show that this could provide a very efficient mechanism for transporting ultra high energy protons at large cosmological distances. The mechanism operates as follows: a super-GZK energy proton scatters a relic photon producing a neutron that oscillates into a mirror neutron which then decays into a mirror proton. The latter undergoes a symmetric process, scattering a mirror relic photon and producing back an ordinary nucleon, but only after traveling a distance $(T/T')^{3}$ times larger than ordinary protons. This may relax or completely remove the GZK-cutoff in the cosmic ray spectrum and also explain the correlation between the observed ultra high energy protons and far distant sources as are the BL Lacs.

hep-ph↗