Search

Abstract We study radius stabilization in the Randall-Sundrum model without assuming any unnaturally large stabilizing scalar potential parameter at the boundary branes (γ) by the frequently used superpotential method. Employing a perturbative expansion in 1/γ 2 and the backreaction parameter, we obtain approximate analytical expressions for the radion mass and wavefunction. We validate them through a dedicated numerical analysis, which solves the linearized coupled scalar and metric field equations exactly. It is observed that the radion mass decreases with decreasing γ. Below a critical value of γ, the radion becomes tachyonic, suggesting destabilization of the extra dimension. We also address the issue of non-Hermiticity of the differential operator that determines the radion and Kaluza-Klein (KK) mode wavefunctions in the finite γ limit. It is accomplished by finding an explicit form of the general scalar product that re-establishes the orthogonality in the KK decomposition.

Abstract Ignorance of the initial condition for the axion dynamics in the early Universe has led us to consider an O(1) valued initial amplitude, and that prefers the decay constant, F a , of the QCD axion to be an intermediate scale such as 1012 GeV in order to explain the dark matter abundance. We explore a cosmological scenario of F a being much larger than 1012 GeV by considering the axion and modulus dynamics during inflation to set the initial amplitude. We show that if the volume modulus (radion) of the extra-dimension is stabilized mainly by the QCD contribution to the modulus potential during inflation, the QCD axion with the string-scale decay constant obtains a mass around the inflationary Hubble parameter. This means that the axion rolls down to the θ = 0 minimum during the inflation realizing almost vanishing initial amplitude, and the inflationary quantum fluctuation can be the dominant source of the current number density of axions. We find natural parameter regions where the axion explains the cold dark matter of the Universe, while the constraint on the isocurvature perturbation is avoided. The presence of the axion miniclusters or axion stars are predicted in a wide range of parameters, including the one explains the Subaru-HCS microlensing event.

Abstract 5D warped extra dimension models with multiple 3-branes can naturally realize multiple hierarchical mass scales which are ubiquitous in physics beyond the Standard Model. We discuss cosmological consequences of such multi-brane models with stabilized radions. It is confirmed that for temperatures below the scale of the IR brane at the end of the extra dimension, we recover the ordinary expansion of the Universe, with the Hubble expansion rate determined by sum of the physical energy densities on all 3-branes where they are localized. In addition, we explore the cosmology for temperatures above the scales of the intermediate and IR branes where the Universe is described by a spacetime with the 3-branes replaced by an event horizon. As the temperature of the Universe cools down, phase transitions are expected to take place, and the intermediate and IR branes come out from behind the event horizon. The Goldberger-Wise mechanism for radion stabilization has a well-known problem of having a supercooled phase transition, which typically does not get completed in time. This problem is even more severe when an intermediate brane is introduced, whose scale is well above TeV, as the corresponding Hubble rate is much larger. We circumvent the problem by employing an alternative mechanism for radion stabilization with dark Yang-Mills fields, which prevents a long supercooling epoch, but still allows the strong first order phase transitions. As a result, the phase transitions in our multi-brane Universe predict a stochastic gravitational wave background with a unique multi-peak signature, which is within the sensitivity reach of future space-based gravitational wave observers. We also show that there are N − 1 radions for an N 3-brane set-up, unlike a recent claim that there exists only one radion.

We explore the possibility that a confining first-order phase transition of a nearly-conformal dark sector generates the reported NANOGrav signal of a stochastic gravitational wave background. The visible Standard Model (SM) sector and the dark sector are initially thermally decoupled so that their temperatures are different. The nearly conformal phase transition is described by the shallow potential of a dilaton (or a radion in the 5D holographic perspective) generated by a new dark Yang-Mills field coupled to the conformal sector. For a dark sector only gravitationally connected with the visible sector, the NANOGrav signal is explained by the phase transition without contradicting the ΔNeff constraint, together with a contribution from supermassive black hole binaries. While the dilaton and dark glueballs can be produced after the phase transition, they immediately decay into dark radiation, which can help ameliorate the Hubble tension and be tested by the future CMB-S4 experiment. Alternatively, for a dark conformal sector decaying into the visible sector after the phase transition, the ΔNeff constraint is not applied and the phase transition can solely explain the NANOGrav signal.

Abstract We examine the possibility of building a natural non-supersymmetric model of spontaneous CP violation equipped with the Nelson-Barr (NB) mechanism to address the strong CP problem. Our approach is to utilize a doubly composite dynamics where the first confinement of the CFT occurs at the scale of spontaneous CP violation (SCPV) and the second confinement at the TeV scale. A holographic dual description of this 4D set-up via a warped extra dimension with three 3-branes provides an explicit realization of this idea. In this model, radiative corrections to the strong CP phase are well under control, and the coincidence of mass scales, which we generally encounter in NB models, is addressed. Our model also provides an explanation to the quark Yukawa hierarchies, and a solution to the gauge hierarchy problem just as in the usual Randall-Sundrum model with the Higgs being localized on the TeV brane.

Abstract It is remarkable that the matter fields in the Standard Model (SM) are apparently unified into the SU(5) representations. A straightforward explanation of this fact is to embed all the SM gauge groups into a simple group containing SU(5), i.e., the grand unified theory (GUT). Recently, however, a new framework “fake GUT” has been proposed. In this new framework, the apparent matter unification can be explained by a chiral gauge group G, G ⊃ SU(5). We emphasize that the SM matter fields are not necessarily embed- ded into the chiral representations to explain the apparent unification. In this paper, we discuss details of concrete realizations of the fake GUT model. We first study the model based on SU(5) × U(2) H , where SU(3) c in the SM is from SU(5) while SU(2) L × U(1) Y are from the diagonal subgroups of SU(5) × U(2) H . We also extend this model to the one based on a semi-simple group, SU(5) × SU(3) H , so that U(2) H is embedded in SU(3) H . We also show that this framework predicts rather different decay patterns of the proton, compared to the conventional GUT.

Abstract We explore a new framework that furnishes a mechanism to simultaneously address the electroweak naturalness problem and the axion high quality problem. The framework is based on a doubly composite dynamics where the second confinement takes place after the CFT encounters the first confinement and the theory flows into another conformal fixed point. For a calculable example, we present a holographic dual description of the 4D model via a warped extra dimension model with three 3-branes. While the hierarchy problem is taken cared of by the localization of the Higgs fields on the TeV brane just as in the original Randall-Sundrum model, the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is realized as a gauge symmetry in the bulk of the extra dimension to solve the axion quality problem. We introduce a 5D scalar field whose potential at the intermediate brane drives spontaneous breaking of the PQ symmetry. Then, the PQ breaking scale is given by the scale of the intermediate brane and is naturally small compared to the Planck scale. The axion bulk profile is significantly suppressed around the UV brane, which protects the axion from gravitational violations of the PQ symmetry on the UV brane. Our model genuinely predicts the existence of the Kaluza-Klein excitations of the QCD axion at around the TeV scale and relatively light extra Higgs bosons.

Abstract Theories beyond the Standard Model often contain mass scales hierarchically different from the electroweak scale and the Planck scale. It has been shown that such hierarchical mass scales can be realized as typical energy scales of multiple 3-branes in a 5D warped spacetime. We present a mechanism for stabilizing the intervals between the multiple 3-branes in the warped extra dimension, by introducing a single 5D scalar field with brane-localized potentials. We discuss the radion stabilization by solving the Einstein equation and the scalar field equation of motion so that a backreaction effect on the geometry due to the presence of the scalar field is taken into account. Perturbations from the background configuration are then considered with proper identification of multiple radion degrees of freedom. By solving their equations of motion, we compute the mass spectrum of the radion-scalar field system and the radion couplings to brane-localized matter fields, which are found to be suppressed by typical energy scales and radion profiles at the branes. We also compute the mass spectrum of Kaluza-Klein gravitons and their profiles in the extra dimension. Some applications of the setup are briefly described. Our analysis provides a solid ground to build 5D warped extra dimension models with multiple 3-branes.

Abstract We discuss how the topological defects in the dark sector affect the Standard Model sector when the dark photon has a kinetic mixing with the QED photon. In particular, we consider the dark photon appearing in the successive gauge symmetry breaking, SU(2) → U(1) → ℤ 2, where the remaining ℤ 2 is the center of SU(2). In this model, the monopole is trapped into the cosmic strings and forms the so-called bead solution. As we will discuss, the dark cosmic string induces the QED magnetic flux inside the dark string through the kinetic mixing. The dark monopole, on the other hand, does not induce the QED magnetic flux in the U(1) symmetric phase, even in the presence of the kinetic mixing. Finally, we show that the dark bead solution induces a spherically symmetric QED magnetic flux through the kinetic mixing. The induced flux looks like the QED magnetic monopole viewed from a distance, although QED satisfies the Bianchi identity everywhere, which we call a pseudo magnetic monopole.

Abstract Hierarchical masses of quarks and leptons are addressed by imposing horizontal symmetries. In supersymmetric Standard Models, the same symmetries play a role in suppressing flavor violating processes induced by supersymmetric particles. Combining the idea of spontaneous CP violation to control contributions to electric dipole moments (EDMs), the mass scale of supersymmetric particles can be lowered. We present supersymmetric models with U(1) horizontal symmetries and discuss CP and flavor constraints. Models with two U(1) symmetries are found to give a viable solution to the muon g − 2 anomaly. Interestingly, the parameter space to explain the anomaly will be probed by future electron EDM experiments.

Abstract We study the contributions of supersymmetric models with a U(1) horizontal symmetry and only spontaneous CP breaking to various lepton flavor observables, such as μ → eγ and the electron electric dipole moment. We show that both a horizontal symmetry and a lack of explicit CP violation can alleviate the existing bounds from such observables. The undetermined O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (1) coefficients in such mass matrix models muddle the interpretation of the bounds from various flavor observables. To overcome this, we define a new fine-tuning measure for different observables in such setups. This allows us to study how naturally the observed IR flavor observables can emerge from a given mass matrix model. We use our flavor-naturalness measure in study of our supersymmetric models and quantify the degree of fine tuning required by the bounds from various lepton flavor observables at each mass scale of sleptons, neutralinos, and charginos.

Abstract In our previous work, we found new types of the cosmic string solutions in the Abelian-Higgs model with an enhanced U(1) global symmetry. We dubbed those solutions as the compensated/uncompensated strings. The compensated string is similar to the conventional cosmic string in the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen (ANO) string, around which only the would-be Nambu-Goldstone (NG) boson winds. Around the uncompensated string, on the other hand, the physical NG boson also winds, where the physical NG boson is associated with the spontaneous breaking of the enhanced symmetry. Our previous simulation in the 2+1 dimensional spacetime confirmed that both the compensated/uncompensated strings are formed at the phase transition of the symmetry breaking. Non-trivial winding of the physical NG boson around the strings potentially causes the so-called axion domain- wall problem when the model is applied to the axion model. In this paper, we perform simulation in the 3+1 dimensional spacetime to discuss the fate of the uncompensated strings. We observe that the evolution of the string-network is highly complicated in the 3+1 dimensional simulation compared with that seen in the previous simulation. Despite such complications, we find that the number of the uncompensated strings which could cause can be highly suppressed at late times. Our observation suggests that the present setup can be applied to the axion model without suffering from the axion domain-wall problem.

Abstract In this paper, we show that the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry with a good quality can be realized in a simple B −L extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The PQ symmetry is a remnant of the B − L gauge symmetry at the renormalizable level. Besides, the sufficient quality of the PQ symmetry is preserved by a non anomalous discrete gauged R-symmetry and a small gravitino mass m 3/2 ≪ 100 GeV. A viable mass range is m 3 / 2 = O 1 $$ {m}_{3/2}=\mathcal{O}(1) $$ eV which allows a high reheating temperature and many baryogenesis scenarios typified by the thermal leptogenesis without any astrophysical and cosmological problems. Such a light gravitino may be tested in the future 21cm line observations.

Abstract We explore the formation and the evolution of the string network in the Abelian Higgs model with two complex scalar fields. A special feature of the model is that it possesses a global U(1) symmetry in addition to the U(1) gauge symmetry. Both symmetries are spontaneously broken by the vacuum expectation values of the two complex scalar fields. As we will show the dynamics of the string network is quite rich compared with that in the ordinary Abelian Higgs model with a single complex scalar field. In particular, we find a new type of string solutions in addition to the conventional Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen (local) string solution. We call this the uncompensated string. An isolated uncompensated string has a logarithmic divergent string tension as in the case of the global strings, although it is accompanied by a non-trivial gauge field configuration. We also perform classical lattice simulations in the 2 + 1 dimensional spacetime, which confirms the formation of the uncompensated strings at the phase transition. We also find that most of the uncompensated strings evolve into the local strings at later time when the gauge charge of the scalar field with a smaller vacuum expectation value is larger than that of the scalar field with a larger vacuum expectation value.

Abstract We discuss new mechanisms to stop the relaxion field during inflation. They can be realized in a generic model, including the original model but in a quite different parameter region. We consider a fast-rolling relaxion field, which can go over the bumps created by QCD-like dynamics. Then, in one of the mechanisms, we stop it with a parametric resonance of the Higgs field. The mechanisms are free from a super-Planckian field excursion or a gigantic number of e-folds of inflation. The relaxion has a mass around the weak scale and mixes with the Higgs boson, which enhances the testability of our mechanisms.

Abstract The Split-Family supersymmetry is a model in which the sfermion masses of the first two generations are in $${\mathcal {O}}(100{-}{1000})\,\hbox {GeV}$$ O(100-1000)GeV while that of the third one is in $${\mathcal {O}}(10)$$ O(10) TeV. With such a hierarchical spectrum, the deviation of the muon $$g-2$$ g-2 and the observed Higgs boson mass are explained simultaneously. In this paper, we revisit the Split-Family SUSY model in light of the updated LHC constraints. We also study the flavor changing neutral current problems in the model. As we will show, the problems do not lead to stringent constraints when the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix is the only source of the flavor mixing. We also study how large flavor mixing in the supersymmetry breaking parameters is allowed.

Recent pulsar timing data reported by the NANOGrav collaboration may indicate the existence of a stochastic gravitational wave background around f∼10−8 Hz. We explore a possibility to generate such low-frequency gravitational waves from a dark sector phase transition. Assuming that the dark sector is completely decoupled from the visible sector except via the gravitational interaction, we find that some amount of dark radiation should remain until present. The NANOGrav data implies that the amount of dark radiation is close to the current upper bound, which may help mitigate the so-called Hubble tension. If the existence of dark radiation is not confirmed in the future CMB-S4 experiment, it would imply the existence of new particles feebly interacting with the standard model sector at an energy scale of O(1 - 100) MeV.

We discuss a possibility that a superconformal dynamics induces the emergence of a global U(1)PQ symmetry to solve the strong CP problem through the axion. Fields spontaneously breaking the U(1)PQ symmetry couple to new quarks charged under the ordinary color SU(3)C and a new SU(N) gauge group. The theory flows into an IR fixed point where the U(1)PQ breaking fields hold a large anomalous dimension leading to the suppression of U(1)PQ-violating higher dimensional operators. The spontaneous breaking of the U(1)PQ makes the new quarks massive. The U(1)PQ symmetry is anomalous under the SU(3)C but not under the SU(N) so that the axion couples to only the color SU(3)C and the usual axion potential is generated. We also comment on a model that the U(1)PQ breaking fields are realized as meson superfields in a new supersymmetric QCD.

An excess in the electronic recoil data was observed in the XENON1T detector. One of plausible explanations for the excess is absorption of a vector bosonic particle with the mass of 2−3keV. For this, the kinetic mixing κ∼10−15 of the dark photon with the photon is required if the dark photon explains the current DM abundance. We recently proposed a model where the main component DM today is a decaying warm dark matter (WDM) with the life time comparable to the age of the current universe. The WDM decays to a massless fermion and a massive dark photon. This model was originally designed for addressing both the small scale problems which ΛCDM suffers from and the H0 tension. In this letter, we show that the massive dark photon produced by the WDM decay can be identified with the vector boson inducing the anomalous excess in the XENON1T experiment. Depending on a lifetime of the parent decaying WDM, the dark photon could be either the main component or the sub-component of DM population today.

Detection of electron recoils by dark matter (DM) may reveal the structure of the dark sector. We consider a scenario where a heavier DM particle inelastically scatters off an electron and is converted into a lighter DM particle. A small mass difference between the two DM particles is transferred into electron recoil energy. We investigate the DM-electron interaction mediated by a massive dark photon and evaluate the inelastic DM scattering rate, taking account of the atomic structure. It is found that the scattering rate is significantly enhanced because of the small mass splitting, which allows for a small momentum transfer matched with the size of the electron wave function. We show that there exists a viable parameter space which explains the excess of electron recoil events around 2-3 keV recently reported by the XENON1T experiment.

We present a model in which the question about a nature of the dark energy and the recently raised Hubble tension can be addressed at once. We consider the electroweak axion in the minimal supersymmetric standard model where the axion energy density is identified with the observed dark energy. Along with this, imposing a gauged Z10 symmetry makes it possible to have a gravitino dark matter whose mass amounts to ∼O(1) GeV. We find that the gravitino with mass ∼O(1) GeV can be a good candidate of a decaying dark matter of which decay after recombination can reconcile discrepancy in local measurements of the Hubble expansion rate H0 and that inferred from the cosmic microwave background observation.

We construct charged soliton solutions around spherical charged black holes with no angular momentum in asymptotically flat spacetime. These solutions are non-linear generalizations of charged scalar clouds, dubbed Q-clouds, and they do not contradict the non-existence theorem for free (linear) scalar clouds around charged black holes. These solutions are the first examples of O(3) solutions for Q-clouds around a non-extremal and non-rotating BH in the Abelian gauge theory. We show that a solution exists with an infinitely short cloud in the limit of extremal black holes. We discuss the evolution of Q-cloud in a system with fixed total charge and describe how the existence of Q-clouds is related to the weak-gravity conjecture. The reason that the no-hair theorem by Mayo and Bekenstein cannot be applied to the massive scalar field is also discussed.

Abstract The gauged Peccei-Quinn (PQ) mechanism provides a simple prescription to embed the global PQ symmetry into a gauged U(1) symmetry. As it originates from the gauged PQ symmetry, the global PQ symmetry can be protected from explicit breaking by quantum gravitational effects once appropriate charge assignment is given. In this paper, we identify the gauged PQ symmetry with the B − L symmetry, which is obviously attractive as the B − L gauge symmetry is the most authentic extension of the Standard Model. As we will show, a natural B − L charge assignment can be found in a model motivated by the seesaw mechanism in the SU(5) Grand Unified Theory. As a notable feature of this model, it does not require extra SU(5) singlet matter fields other than the right-handed neutrinos to cancel the self and the gravitational anomalies.

Abstract Recently, a simple prescription to embed the global Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry into a gauged U(1) symmetry has been proposed. There, explicit breaking of the global PQ symmetry expected in quantum gravity are highly suppressed due to the gauged PQ symmetry. In this paper, we apply the gauged PQ mechanism to models where the global PQ symmetry and supersymmetry (SUSY) are simultaneously broken at around O1011−12 $$ \mathcal{O}\left(1{0}^{11-12}\right) $$ GeV. Such scenario is motivated by an intriguing coincidence between the supersymmetry breaking scale which explains the observed Higgs boson mass by the gravity mediated sfermion masses, and the PQ breaking scale which evades all the astrophysical and the cosmological constraints. As a concrete example, we construct a model which consists of a simultaneous supersymmetry/PQ symmetry breaking sector based on SU(2) dynamics and an additional PQ symmetry breaking sector based on SU(N) dynamics. We also show that new vector-like particles are predicted in the TeV range in the minimum model, which can be tested by the LHC experiments.

The Peccei–Quinn (PQ) solution to the strong CP problem requires an anomalous global U(1) symmetry, the PQ symmetry. The origin of such a convenient global symmetry is quite puzzling from the theoretical point of view in many aspects. In this paper, we propose a simple prescription which provides an origin of the PQ symmetry. There, the global U(1) PQ symmetry is virtually embedded in a gauged U(1) PQ symmetry. Due to its simplicity, this mechanism can be implemented in many conventional models with the PQ symmetry.

Q-balls formed from the Affleck-Dine field have rich cosmological implications and have been extensively studied from both theoretical and simulational approaches. From the theoretical point of view, the exact solution of the Q-ball was obtained and it shows a circular orbit in the complex plane of the field value. In practice, however, it is reported that the Q-ball that appears after the Affleck-Dine mechanism has an elliptical orbit, which carries larger energy per unit U(1) charge than the well-known solution with a circular orbit. We call them “elliptical” Q-balls. In this paper, we report the first detailed investigation of the properties of the elliptical Q-balls by 3D lattice simulation. The simulation results indicate that the elliptical Q-ball has an almost spherical spatial profile with no nodes, and we observed a highly elliptic orbit that cannot be described through small perturbations around the ground state Q-ball. Higher ellipticity leads to more excitation of the energy, whose relation is also derived as a dispersion relation. Finally, we derive two types of approximate solutions by extending the Gaussian approximation and considering the time-averaged equation of motion and we also show the consistency with the simulation results.

Phase changes in Bacteroides fragilis, a member of the human colonic microbiota, mediate variations in a vast array of cell surface molecules, such as capsular polysaccharides and outer membrane proteins through DNA inversion. The results of the present study show that outer membrane vesicle (OMV) formation in this anaerobe is also controlled by DNA inversions at two distantly localized promoters, IVp-I and IVp-II that are associated with extracellular polysaccharide biosynthesis and the expression of outer membrane proteins. These promoter inversions are mediated by a single tyrosine recombinase encoded by BF2766 (orthologous to tsr19 in strain NCTC9343) in B. fragilis YCH46, which is located near IVp-I. A series of BF2766 mutants were constructed in which the two promoters were locked in different configurations (IVp-I/IVp-II = ON/ON, OFF/OFF, ON/OFF or OFF/ON). ON/ON B. fragilis mutants exhibited hypervesiculating, whereas the other mutants formed only a trace amount of OMVs. The hypervesiculating ON/ON mutants showed higher resistance to treatment with bile, LL-37, and human β-defensin 2. Incubation of wild-type cells with 5% bile increased the population of cells with the ON/ON genotype. These results indicate that B. fragilis regulates the formation of OMVs through DNA inversions at two distantly related promoter regions in response to membrane stress, although the mechanism underlying the interplay between the two regions controlled by the invertible promoters remains unknown.