On the Decay of Massive Fields in de Sitter

Interacting massive fields with m > d H/2 in d+1 dimensional de Sitter space are fundamentally unstable. Scalar fields in this mass range can decay to themselves. This process (which is kinematically forbidden in Minkowski space) can lead to an important change to the propagator and the physics of these fields. We compute this decay rate by doing a 1-loop computation for a massive scalar field with a cubic interaction. We resum the 1-loop result by consistently solving the Schwinger-Dyson equations. We also perform an explicit resummation of all chain graphs in the case of the retarded propagator. The decay rate is exponentially suppressed for large m/H and the flat space answer (vanishing decay rate) is reproduced in that limit.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures; v2 corrected the discussion for the F propagator. Final results are unchange

Strange Couplings to the Higgs

We explored the coupling of strange quark to the state of mass close to 126 GeV recently observed by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC. An enhanced coupling relative to the expectations for a SM Higgs has the effect of increasing both the inclusive production cross section and the partial decay width into jets. For very large modifications, the latter dominates and the net rate into non-jet decay modes such as diphotons is suppressed, with the result that one can use observations of the diphoton decay mode to place an upper limit on the strange quark coupling. We find that the current observations of the diphoton decay mode imply that the coupling of the new resonance to strange quark can be at most ~ 50 times the SM expectation at the 95 % C.L., if one assumes at most a O(1) modification of the coupling to gluons.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Collisions of Jets of Particles from Active Galactic Nuclei with Neutralino Dark Matter

We examine the possibility that energetic Standard Model particles contained in the jets produced by active galactic nuclei (AGN) may scatter off of the dark matter halo which is expected to surround the AGN. In particular, if there are nearby states in the dark sector which can appear resonantly in the scattering, the cross section can be enhanced and a distinctive edge feature in the energy spectrum may appear. We examine bounds on supersymmetric models which may be obtained from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope observation of the nearby AGN Centaurus A.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures; v2: version published in JCA

Simplified Models for Dark Matter Interacting with Quarks

We investigate simplified models in which dark matter particles, taken to be either Dirac or Majorana fermions, couple to quarks via colored mediators. We determine bounds from colliders and direct detection experiments, and show how the interplay of the two leads to a complementary view of this class of dark matter models. Forecasts for future searches in light of the current constraints are presented.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures (39 images) Fixed erroneous calculation and updated plot

An Emergent Solution to the Strong CP Problem

We construct a theory in which the solution to the strong CP problem is an emergent property of the background of the dark matter in the Universe. The role of the axion degree of freedom is played by multi-body collective excitations similar to spin-waves in the medium of the dark matter of the Galactic halo. The dark matter is a vector particle whose low energy interactions with the Standard Model take the form of its spin density coupled to $G \widetilde{G}$, which induces a potential on the average spin density inducing it to compensate $\overline{\theta}$, effectively removing CP violation in the strong sector in regions of the Universe with sufficient dark matter density. We discuss the viable parameter space, finding that light dark matter masses within a few orders of magnitude of the fuzzy limit are preferred, and discuss the associated signals with this type of solution to the strong CP problem.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Version published in PR

Unparticle Self-Interactions and Their Collider Implications

In unparticle physics, operators of the conformal sector have self-interactions, and these are unsuppressed for strong coupling. The 3-point interactions are completely determined by conformal symmetry, up to a constant. We do not know of any theoretical upper bounds on this constant. Imposing current experimental constraints, we find that these interactions mediate spectacular collider signals, such as $pp -> U -> UU -> \gamma \gamma \gamma \gamma$, $\gamma \gamma ZZ$, $ZZZZ$, $\gamma \gamma l^+ l^-$, $ZZ l^+ l^-$, and $4l$, with cross sections of picobarns or larger at the Large Hadron Collider. Self-interactions may therefore provide the leading discovery prospects for unparticle physics.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures; v2: published versio

Baryon Number as the Fourth Color

We propose an extension of the Standard Model in which baryon number is promoted to be part of a non-Abelian gauge symmetry at high energies. Specifically, we consider the gauge group SU(4) x SU(2)_L x U(1)_X, where the SU(4) unifies baryon number and color. This symmetry is spontaneously broken down to the Standard Model gauge group at a scale which can be as low as a few TeV. The SU(4) structure implies that each SM quark comes along with an uncolored quark partner, the lightest of which is stabilized by the generalized baryon number symmetry and can play the role of dark matter. We explore circumstances under which one can realize a model of asymmetric dark matter whose relic abundance is connected to the observed baryon asymmetry, and discuss unique signatures that can be searched for at the LHC.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

BRST invariance and de Rham-type cohomology of 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole

We exploit the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole to define closed algebra of the quantum field operators and the BRST charge $Q_{BRST}$. In the first-class configuration of the Dirac quantization, by including the $Q_{BRST}$-exact gauge fixing term and the Faddeev-Popov ghost term, we find the BRST invariant Hamiltonian to investigate the de Rham-type cohomology group structure for the monopole system. The Bogomol'nyi bound is also discussed in terms of the first-class topological charge defined on the extended internal 2-sphere.Comment: 8 page

A transition in the spectrum of the topological sector of ϕ24\phi_2^4 theory at strong coupling

We investigate the strong coupling region of the topological sector of the two-dimensional $\phi^4$ theory. Using discrete light cone quantization (DLCQ), we extract the masses of the lowest few excitations and observe level crossings. To understand this phenomena, we evaluate the expectation value of the integral of the normal ordered $\phi^2$ operator and we extract the number density of constituents in these states. A coherent state variational calculation confirms that the number density for low-lying states above the transition coupling is dominantly that of a kink-antikink-kink state. The Fourier transform of the form factor of the lowest excitation is extracted which reveals a structure close to a kink-antikink-kink profile. Thus, we demonstrate that the structure of the lowest excitations becomes that of a kink-antikink-kink configuration at moderately strong coupling. We extract the critical coupling for the transition of the lowest state from that of a kink to a kink-antikink-kink. We interpret the transition as evidence for the onset of kink condensation which is believed to be the physical mechanism for the symmetry restoring phase transition in two-dimensional $\phi^4$ theory.Comment: revtex4, 14 figure