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We discuss thermodynamical stability for hairy black hole spacetimes, viewed as defects in the thermodynamical parameter space, taking into account the backreaction of a secondary hair onto the spacetime geometry, which is modified non trivially. We derive, in a model independent way, the conditions for the hairy black hole with the secondary hair to reach a stable thermal equilibrium with the heat bath. Specifically, if the scalar hair, induced by interactions of the matter fields with quadratic-curvature corrections, produces an inner horizon in the deformed geometry, a thermodynamically stable configuration will be reached with the black hole becoming extremal in its final stage. We also attempt to make some conjectures concerning the implications of this thermal stability for the existence of a minimum length in a quantum space time.

We discuss self-gravitating global O(3) monopole solutions associated with the spontaneous breaking of O(3) down to a global O(2) in an extended Gauss Bonnet theory of gravity in (3+1)-dimensions, in the presence of a non-trivial scalar field $\Phi$ that couples to the Gauss-Bonnet higher curvature combination with a coupling parameter $\alpha$. We obtain a range of values for $\alpha < 0$ (in our notation and conventions), which are such that a global (Israel type) matching is possible of the space time exterior to the monopole core $\delta$ with a de-Sitter interior, guaranteeing the positivity of the ADM mass of the monopole, which, together with a positive core radius $\delta > 0$, are both dynamically determined as a result of this matching. It should be stressed that in the General Relativity (GR) limit, where $\alpha \to 0$, and $\Phi \to $ constant, such a matching yields a negative ADM monopole mass, which might be related to the stability issues the (Barriola-Vilenkin (BV)) global monopole of GR faces. Thus, our global monopole solution, which shares many features with the BV monopole, such as an asymptotic-space-time deficit angle, of potential phenomenological/cosmological interest, but has, par contrast, a positive ADM mass, has a chance of being a stable configuration, although a detailed stability analysis is pending., Comment: 13 pages, numerical analysis on the solution added in new section IV, further phenomenological discussion added in conclusions and outlook section. No effect on conclusions. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D

In previous works we have derived a Running Vacuum Model (RVM) for a string Universe, which provides an effective description of the evolution of 4-dimensional string-inspired cosmologies from inflation till the present epoch. In the context of this "stringy RVM" version, it is assumed that the early Universe is characterised by purely gravitational degrees of freedom, from the massless gravitational string multiplet, including the antisymmetric tensor field. The latter plays an important role, since its dual gives rise to a `stiff' gravitational-axion "matter", which in turn couples to the gravitational anomaly terms, assumed to be non-trivial at early epochs. In the presence of primordial gravitational wave (GW) perturbations, such anomalous couplings lead to an RVM-like dynamical inflation, without external inflatons. We review here this framework and discuss potential scenarios for the generation of such primordial GW, among which the formation of unstable domain walls, which eventually collapse in a non-spherical-symmetric manner, giving rise to GW. We also remark that the same type of "stiff" axionic matter could provide, upon the generation of appropriate potentials during the post-inflationary eras, (part of) the Dark Matter (DM) in the Universe, which could well be ultralight, depending on the parameters of the string-inspired model. All in all, the new (stringy) mechanism for RVM-inflation preserves the basic structure of the original (and more phenomenological) RVM, as well as its main advantages: namely, a mechanism for graceful exit and for generating a huge amount of entropy capable of explaining the horizon problem. It also predicts axionic DM and the existence of mild dynamical Dark Energy (DE) of quintessence type in the present universe, both being "living fossils" of the inflationary stages of the cosmic evolution., Comment: 75 pages revtex, 6 pdf figures incorporated

We study aspects of inflation and the possibility of enhanced production of primordial black holes (PBHs) and gravitational waves (GWs) in a string-inspired model of two axion fields coupled to Chern-Simons gravity, which results in a running-vacuum-model inflation. Fluctuations of the scale invariant spectrum, consistent with the cosmological data, are provided in this model by world-sheet (non-perturbative) instanton terms of the axion field arising from string compactification. As a result of such modulations, there is an enhanced production of PBHs and GWs in such cosmologies, which may lead to observable in principle patterns in the profile of GWs during the radiation era. Moreover, we demonstrate that the PBHs may provide a significant amount of Dark Matter in this Universe. For comparison, we also discuss a two-stage inflation cosmological model of conventional string-inspired axion monodromy, involving again two axion fields. The resulting modifications imprinted on the GWs spectra between these two classes of models are distinct, and can, in principle, be distinguished by future interferometers. We consider models with more or less instantaneous reheating. We also make some remarks on the effects of a prolonged reheating period in leading to further enhancement of the power spectrum and thus fractions of PBHs that play the role of Dark matter., 30 pages, 14 figures. Version to appear in PRD. Discussion on reheating issues has been added in section V and in Appendix B

In a modest attempt to present potentially new paradigms in Cosmology, including its inflationary epoch, and initiate discussions, I review in this article some novel, string-inspired cosmological models, which entail a purely geometrical origin of the Dark sector of the Universe but also of its observed matter-antimatter asymmetry. The models contain gravitational (string-model independent, Kalb-Ramond (KR)) axion fields coupled to primordial gravitational anomalies via CP-violating interactions. The anomaly terms are four-space-time-dimensional remnants of the Green-Schwarz counterterms appearing in the definition of the field strength of the spin-one antisymmetric tensor field of the (bosonic) massless gravitational string multiplet, which also plays the r\^ole of a totally antisymmetric component of torsion. I show how in such cosmologies the presence of primordial gravitational waves can lead to anomaly condensates and dynamical inflation of a "running-vacuum-model" type, without external inflatons, but also to leptogenesis in the radiation era due to anomaly-induced Lorentz and CPT Violating KR axion backgrounds. I also discuss how the torsion-related KR-axion could acquire a mass during the QCD epoch, thus playing the role of (a component of) Dark Matter. Phenomenological considerations of the inflationary and post-inflationary (in particular, modern) eras of the model are briefly discussed, including its potential for alleviating the observed tensions in the cosmological data of the current epoch., Comment: 37 pages revtex, 2 pdf figures incorporated

Chern-Simons gravity rotating Kerr-type black hole solutions are revisited from the point of view of their scalarization, namely examining the back reaction of pseudoscalar axion fields on the rotating geometry. To lowest order in an angular momentum expansion, and a long range approximation for both the axion field configuration and its back reaction onto the metric, such solutions had been discussed for the first time in the context of string theory. In this work, we extend the analysis to give analytic expressions for slowly rotating black holes outside the horizon, which formally include an all order expansion in inverse powers of the radial distance from the centre of the black hole, which allows to approach arbitrarily close the horizon. We also discuss in some detail the way Chern-Simons gravity violates the energy conditions, which leads to secondary axionic hair of the rotating black hole solutions. This discussion is extended to studies of wormhole solutions, which we construct in this article via the thin-shell procedure and we demonstrate that the presence of the axion field enforces the two black hole solutions to be counter-rotating and for slow rotation, there is no backreaction of the Cotton tensor on the thin-shell of the wormhole., 21 pages, 1 figure, Appendix C added on the convergence of the series (3.10). No effects on conclusions

We consider a pseudoscalar axion-like field coupled to a Chern-Simons gravitational anomaly term. The axion field backreacts on a rotating Kerr black hole background, resulting in modifications in the spacetime. In an attempt to determine potentially observable signatures, we study the angular momentum of the system of the modified Kerr-like black hole and the axionic matter outside the horizon of the black hole. As the strength of the coupling of the axion field to the Chern-Simons term is increasing, the requirement that the total angular momentum of the system remain constant forces the black hole angular momentum to decrease. There exists a critical value of this coupling beyond which the black hole starts to rotate in the opposite direction, with an increasing magnitude of its angular momentum. We interpret this effect as a consequence of the exchange of energy between the axionic matter and the gravitational anomaly, which is sourced by the rotating black hole., Comment: 13 pages revtex, 7 pdf figures incorporated

We consider an extension of the Standard Model that was proposed recently by one of the current authors (PQH), which admits magnetic monopoles with a mass of order of a few TeV. We impose, in addition to topological quantization in the SU(2) sector of the model, the Dirac Quantization Condition (DQC) required for consistency of the quantum theory of a charged electron in the presence of the monopole. This leads to the prediction ${\rm sin}^2\theta_W = 1/4$, where $\theta_W$ is the weak mixing angle at the energy scale set by the monopole mass. A leading-order renormalization-group analysis yields the value of ${\rm sin}^2 \theta_W \simeq 0.231$ at the $Z$-boson mass, as measured by experiment, under suitable conditions on the spectrum of the extra particles in the model., Comment: Amended version, to appear in Nucl. Phys. B, with several diverse arguments supporting the quantization of the weak mixing angle of the extended standard model in the presence of monopoles. References added. No effects on conclusions

In a temperature dependent CPT-Violating (CPTV) axial time-like background (induced by the Kalb-Ramond tensor field of string theory) we discuss leptogenesis by solving the Boltzmann equation.The current work non-trivially modifies the framework of a previous phenomenological approach by the authors where the CPTV axial background was considered to be a constant (with no microscopic justification). The constant background approximation though is shown to capture the main phenomenological features of leptogenesis. On comparing our analysis to the related chiral magnetic effect for axial current condensates, we conclude that the Kalb-Ramond field does not play the role of the chiral chemical potential needed for that effect., 17 pages revtex

In previous works we have embedded the Running Vacuum Model (RVM) of Cosmology in the framework of string theory. Specifically, we considered a string-inspired Cosmology with primordial gravitational waves (GW) and gravitational anomalies, which were argued to lead, via appropriate condensation during the very-early-universe era, to dynamical inflation, of RVM type, without the need for extra inflaton fields. A crucial role for the associated slow-roll nature of the inflationary era was played by the fundamental axion field that exists in the gravitational multiplet of strings, viz. the Kalb-Ramond (KR) axion. In this paper, we study further this model and demonstrate several novel facts, completing our previous studies. We clarify the different roles played by the background KR axions, which constitute a form of stiff matter that dominates a pre-RVM-inflationary epoch of the Universe. We show that the KR axion when combined with the gravitational Chern-Simons contribution obey together a peculiar equation of state $p=-\rho$, with negative energy density $\rho < 0$, which we call `phantom vacuum'. Eventually, this state transmutes into the standard vacuum state thanks to the contribution from the gravitational Chern-Simons condensate, which makes the total $\rho_{\rm total} =-p_{\rm total} >0$. At this point the RVM vacuum picture emerges naturally, with an overall equation of state of true vacuum type. We find that our scenario is consistent with the trans-Planckian censorship hypothesis, given that the rate of change of the KR axion takes only sub-Planckian values. We also discuss some explicit scenarios on the creation of GWs within the context of supergravity models that could be embedded in our string theory framework. {Finally, we argue how the RVM in our context can help to alleviate the current tensions of the $\Lambda$CDM.}, Comment: 57 pages revtex, three pdf figures incorporated. Discussion on the self consistency of the constant dilaton solution is added for completeness. No effects on conclusions. Version to appear in EPJPlus

We extend the study of a previous publication [1] on Schwinger-Dyson dynamical mass generation for fermions and pseudoscalar fields (axion-like particles (ALP)), in field theories containing Yukawa type interactions between the fermions and ALPs, by incorporating anomaly terms and/or (constant) axial background fields. The latter are linked to some Lorentz-(and CPT-)violating scenarios for leptogenesis in the early Universe. We discuss both Hermitian and non-Hermitian Yukawa interactions and axial backgrounds, which are motivated in the context of some scenarios for radiative (anomalous) Majorana sterile neutrino masses in some effective field theories, including attractive four-fermion interactions. The reality requirement for the radiative, anomalously generated, mass component for the fermions, restricts our considerations to the cases where Yukawa interactions and the anomaly terms are either both Hermitian or both anti-Hermitian. We show that, for a Hermitian Yukawa interaction, there is no (pseudo)scalar dynamical mass generation, but there is fermion dynamical mass generation, provided one adds a bare (pseudo)scalar mass. For this case, the Hermitian anomaly terms play a similar role in inducing dynamical mass generation for fermions as the four-fermion attractive interactions, and as such they can themselves generate a small dynamical mass. For anti-Hermitian Yukawa interactions, an anti-Hermitian anomaly resists mass generation. The axial background terms assist dynamical mass generation induced by anti-Hermitian Yukawa interactions, in the sense that the larger the magnitude of the background, the larger the dynamical mass. For Hermitian Yukawa interactions, however, the situation is the opposite, in the sense that the larger the background the smaller the dynamical mass. We also compare the anomaly-induced dynamical mass with the radiative fermion mass in models of sterile neutrinos, and find that in cases where the dynamical mass occurs, the latter dominates over the anomalously generated radiative sterile-neutrino mass.

The First and Second Swampland Conjectures (FSC & SSC) are substantially modified in non-critical string cosmology, in which cosmic time is identified with the time-like Liouville mode of the supercritical string. In this scenario the Friedmann equation receives additional contributions due to the non-criticality of the string. These are potentially important when one seeks to apply the Bousso bound for the entropy of states that may become light as the dilaton takes on trans-Planckian values, as in a de Sitter phase, and restore consistency with the FSC and in at least some cases also the SSC. The weak gravity conjecture (WGC) for scalar potentials is saturated in the supercritical string scenarios discussed in this work, but only if one uses the dilaton as appears in the string effective action, with a kinetic term that is not canonically normalised. In the case of a non-critical Starobinsky potential, the WGC is satisfied by both the canonically-normalised dilaton and the dilaton used in the string effective action., 30 pages, 1 figure, amended version with an extra subsection on Embedding the supercritical string cosmology into microscopic conformal field theory models; no effects on conclusions, version to be published in Physical Review D

In this review, we discuss recent developments in both the theory and the experimental searches of magnetic monopoles in past, current and future colliders and in the Cosmos. The theoretical models include, apart from the standard Grand Unified Theories, extensions of the Standard Model that admit magnetic monopole solutions with finite energy and masses that can be as light as a few TeV. Specifically, we discuss, among other scenarios, modified Cho-Maison monopoles and magnetic monopoles in (string-inspired, higher derivative) Born-Infeld extensions of the hypercharge sector of the Standard Model. We also outline the conditions for which effective field theories describing the interaction of monopoles with photons are valid and can be used for result interpretation in monopole production at colliders. The experimental part of the review focuses on, past and present, cosmic and collider searches, including the latest bounds on monopole masses and magnetic charges by the ATLAS and MoEDAL experiments at the LHC, as well as prospects for future searches., 82 pages, 21 figures, invited review; more references and discussions added; to appear in International Journal of Modern Physics A

In a model for leptogenesis based on spontaneous breaking of Lorentz and CPT symmetry [1-3], we examine the consistency of using the approximation of plane-wave solutions for a free spin-(1/2) Dirac (or Majorana) fermion field propagating in a Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker space time augmented with a cosmic time-dependent (or, equivalently, a temperature-dependent) Kalb-Ramond (KR) background. For the range of parameters relevant for leptogenesis, our analysis fully justifies the use of plane-wave solutions in our study of leptogenesis with Boltzmann equations; any corrections induced by space-time-curvature are negligible. We also elaborate further on how the lepton asymmetry is communicated to the Baryon sector. We demonstrate that the KR background (KRB) does not contribute to the anomaly equations that determine the baryon asymmetry a) through an explicit evaluation of a triangle Feynman graph and b) indirectly, on topological grounds, by identifying the KRB as torsion (in the effective string-inspired low energy gravitational field theory)., 30 pages revtex, one pdf figure incorporated

We present a model for the Universe in which quantum anomalies are argued to play an important dual role: they are responsible for generating matter-antimatter asymmetry, but also provide time-dependent contributions to the vacuum energy density of "running-vacuum" type, which drive the Universe evolution. During the inflationary phase of a string-inspired Universe, and its subsequent exit, the existence of primordial gravitational waves induce gravitational anomalies, which couple to the Kalb-Ramond (KR)axion field of the massless gravitational string multiplet. Such anomalous CP violating interactions have two important effects: first, they lead to contributions to the vacuum energy density of the form appearing in the "running vacuum model" (RVM) framework, proportional to both the square and the fourth power of the effective Hubble parameter $H$, the $H^4$ terms being associated with anomaly-induced inflation within the RVM framework. Second, there is an undiluted KR axion at the end of inflation, which plays an important role in generating matter-antimatter asymmetry through baryogenesis via leptogenesis in models with heavy right handed neutrinos. As the Universe exits inflation and enters a radiation dominated era, the generation of chiral fermionic matter is responsible for the cancellation of gravitational anomalies, thus restoring diffeomorphism invariance for the matter/radiation (quantum) theory, as required for consistency. Chiral U(1) anomalies may remain uncompensated, though, during matter/radiation dominance, providing RVM-like $H^2$ and $H^4$ contributions to the Universe energy density. Finally, in the current era, gravitational anomalies resurface, leading to much weaker RVM-like $H_0^2$ contributions to the vacuum energy density.Our model favours axionic Dark Matter,the source of which can be the KR axion., Comment: 76 pages revtex, no figures; minor typos corrections as compared to previous version. No effects on conclusions. Version to be published in Physical Review D

The MoEDAL trapping detector, consists of approximately 800 kg of aluminium volumes. It was exposed during Run-2 of the LHC program to 6.46 fb^-1 of 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHCb interaction point. Evidence for dyons (particles with electric and magnetic charge) captured in the trapping detector was sought by passing the aluminium volumes comprising the detector through a SQUID magnetometer. The presence of a trapped dyon would be signalled by a persistent current induced in the SQUID magnetometer. On the basis of a Drell-Yan production model, we exclude dyons with a magnetic charge ranging up to 5 Dirac charges, and an electric charge up to 200 times the fundamental electric charge for mass limits in the range 790 - 3130 GeV., arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1903.08491

In this letter, we elaborate further on a Cosmological "Running-Vacuum" type model for the Universe, suggested previously by the authors within the context of a string-inspired effective theory in the presence of a Kalb-Ramond (KR) gravitational axion field which descends from the antisymmetric tensor of the massless gravitational string multiplet. In the presence of this field, which has anomalous CP violating interactions with the gravitons, primordial gravitational waves induce gravitational anomalies, which in turn are responsible for the appearance of $H^2$ and $H^4$ contributions to the vacuum energy density, these terms being characteristic of generic "running-vacuum-model (RVM) type", where $H$ is the Hubble parameter. In this work we prove in detail the appearance of the $H^4$ terms due to gravitational-anomaly-induced condensates in the energy density of the primordial Universe, which can self-consistently induce inflation, and subsequent exit from it, according to the generic features of RVM. We also argue in favour of the robustness of our results, which were derived within an effective low-energy field theory approach, against Ultra Violet completion of the theory. During the radiation and matter-dominated eras, gravitational anomalies cancel, as required for the consistency of the quantum matter/radiation field theory. However, chiral and QCD-axion-type anomalies survive and have important consequences for both cosmic magnetogenesis and axionic dark matter in the Universe. Finally, the stringy RVM scenario presented here predicts quintessence-like dynamical dark energy for the current Universe, which is compatible with the existing fitting analyses of such model against observations, Accepted for publication in Phys. Lett. B. Extended discussion, references added

It is well known that certain special classes of self-gravitating point-like defects, such as global (non gauged) monopoles, give rise to non-asymptotically flat space-times characterized by solid angle deficits, whose size depends on the details of the underlying microscopic models. The scattering of electrically neutral particles on such space-times is described by amplitudes that exhibit resonant behaviour when the scattering and deficit angles coincide. This, in turn, leads to ring-like structures where the cross sections are formally divergent ("singular lensing"). In this work, we revisit this particular phenomenon, with the twofold purpose of placing it in a contemporary and more general context, in view of renewed interest in the theory and general phenomenology of such defects, and, more importantly, of addressing certain subtleties that appear in the particular computation that leads to the aforementioned effect. In particular, by adopting a specific regularization procedure for the formally infinite Legendre series encountered, we manage to ensure the recovery of the Minkowski space-time, and thus the disappearance of the lensing phenomenon, in the no-defect limit, and the validity of the optical theorem for the elastic total cross section. In addition, the singular nature of the phenomenon is confirmed by means of an alternative calculation, which, unlike the original approach, makes no use of the generating function of the Legendre polynomials, but rather exploits the asymptotic properties of the Fresnel integrals., 32 pages latex, three pdf figures incorporated, partial text overlap with arXiv:: arXiv:1607.01315

In this mini review, we discuss some recent developments regarding properties of (quantum) field-theory models containing anti-Hermitian Yukawa interactions between pseudoscalar fields (axions) and Dirac (or Majorana) fermions. Specifically, after motivating physically such interactions, in the context of string-inspired low-energy effective field theories, involving right-handed neutrinos and axion fields, we proceed to discuss their formal consistency within the so-called Parity-Time-reversal(PT)-symmetry framework, as well as dynamical mass generation, induced by the Yukawa interactions, for both fermions and axions. The Yukawa couplings are assumed weak, given that they are conjectured to have been generated by non-perturbative effects in the underlying microscopic string theory. The models under discussion contain, in addition to the Yukawa terms, also anti-Hermitian anomalous derivative couplings of the pseudoscalar fields to axial fermion currents, as well as interactions of the fermions with non-Hermitian axial backgrounds. We discuss the role of such additional couplings on the Yukawa-induced dynamically-generated masses. For the case where the fermions are right-handed neutrinos, we compare such masses with the radiative ones induced by both, the anti-Hermitian anomalous terms and the anti-Hermitian Yukawa interactions in phenomenologically relevant models., Comment: 35 pages latex, 2 figures. Review based on talk in the online series: Pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians in Quantum Physics (XIX

We present a gauge and Lorentz invariant model for the scattering of matter off magnetic poles, which justifies the presence of velocity-dependent magnetic charges as an effective description of either the behaviour of monopoles in scattering with matter or their production from matter particles at colliders. Hence, in such an approach, perturbativity of the magnetic charge is ensured for relative low velocities of monopoles with respect to matter particles. The model employs a ${\rm U(1)}_{\rm weak} \times {\rm U(1)}_{\rm strong}$ effective gauge field theory under which electrons and monopoles (assumed to be fermions) are appropriately charged. The non-perturbative quantum effects of the strongly coupled sector of the theory lead to dressed effective couplings of the monopole/dyon with the electromagnetic photon, due to non-trivial wave-function renormalization effects. For slowly-moving monopole/dyons, such effects lead to weak coupling, thus turning the bare non-perturbative magnetic charge, which is large due to the Dirac/Schwinger quantization rule, into a perturbative effective, velocity-("$\beta$")-dependent magnetic coupling. Our work thus offers formal support to previous conjectural studies, employing effective U(1)-electromagnetic gauge field theories for the description of monopole production from Standard Model matter, which are used in contemporary collider searches of such objects. This work necessarily pertains to composite monopoles, as seems to be the case of all known monopoles so far, that are solutions of specific particle physics models. This is a consequence of the fact that the wave-function renormalization of the (slowly-moving) monopole fermion turns out to violate unitarity bounds that would characterise asymptotic elementary particle states., Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures

We present a string-based picture of the cosmological evolution in which (CP-violating) gravitational anomalies acting during the inflationary phase of the universe cause the vacuum energy density to "run" with the effective Hubble parameter squared, $H^2$, thanks to the axion field of the bosonic string multiplet. This leads to baryogenesis through leptogenesis with massive right-handed neutrinos. The generation of chiral matter after inflation helps in cancelling the anomalies in the observable radiation- and matter- dominated eras. The present era inherits the same "running vacuum" structure triggered during the inflationary time by the axion field. The current dark energy is thus predicted to be mildly dynamical, and dark matter should be made of axions. Paraphrasing Carl Sagan: "we are all anomalously made from starstuff " ., Accepted for publication in Int. J. of Mod. Phys. D. This essay received an Honorable Mention from the Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition on Gravitation (2019)

In this paper we study patterns of dynamical symmetry breaking for a class of models characterized by SU(3) V × SU(3) A × U(1) V chiral-flavor symmetry. In particular, we show how dynamical mixing generation implies the existence of exotic condensates on vacuum, mixing fermion and antifermions with different flavors. By means of Ward-Takahashi identities we also derive Haag expansions for Nambu-Goldstone fields.

We present a preliminary study on the possibility to search for massive long-lived electrically charged particles at the MoEDAL detector. MoEDAL is sensitive to highly ionising objects such as magnetic monopoles or massive (meta-)stable electrically charged particles and we focus on the latter in this paper. Requirements on triggering or reducing the cosmic-ray and cavern background, applied in the ATLAS and CMS analyses for long-lived particles, are not necessary at MoEDAL, due to its completely different detector design and extremely low background. On the other hand, MoEDAL requires slow-moving particles, resulting in sensitivity to massive states with typically small production cross sections. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we compare the sensitivities of MoEDAL versus ATLAS/CMS for various long-lived particles in supersymmetric models, and we seek a scenario where MoEDAL can provide discovery reach complementary to ATLAS and CMS., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures; invited talk in 6th Symposium on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete Symmetries (DISCRETE 2018), 26-30 Nov 2018, Vienna, Austria, presented by V.A.M.; minor changes matching published version

We investigate the running vacuum model (RVM) in the framework of scalar field theory.This dynamical vacuum model provides an elegant global explanation of the cosmic history, namely the universe starts from a non-singular initial de Sitter vacuum stage, it passes smoothly from an early inflationary era to a radiation epoch ("graceful exit") and finally it enters the dark matter and dark energy (DE) dominated epochs, where it can explain the large entropy problem and predicts a mild dynamical evolution of the DE. Within this phenomenologically appealing context, we formulate an effective {\it classical} scalar field description of the RVM through a field $\phi$, called the {\it vacuumon}, which turns out to be very helpful for an understanding and practical implementation of the physical mechanisms of the running vacuum during both the early universe and the late time cosmic acceleration. In the early universe the potential for the vacuumon may be mapped to a potential that behaves similarly to that of the scalaron field of Starobinsky-type inflation at the {\it classical} level, whilst in the late universe it provides an effective scalar field description of DE. The two representations, however, are not physically equivalent since the mechanisms of inflation are entirely different. Moreover, unlike the scalaron, vacuumon is treated as a classical background field, and not a fully fledged quantum field, hence cosmological perturbations will be different between the two pictures of inflation., Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, JCAP, 025, 12 (2019)

In this paper we study dynamical chiral symmetry breaking of a generic quantum field theoretical model with global SU(2)L×SU(2)R×U(1)V symmetry. By purely algebraic means we analyze the vacuum structure for different symmetry breaking schemes and show explicitly how the ensuing nontrivial flavor vacuum condensate, originally introduced in connection with neutrino oscillations, characterizes the dynamical generation of field mixing. In addition, with the help of Ward–Takahashi identities we demonstrate the emergence of the correct number of Nambu–Goldstone modes in the physical spectrum.

On extending the Standard Model (SM) Lagrangian, through a non-linear Born&ndash, Infeld (BI) hypercharge term with a parameter &beta, (of dimensions of [mass] 2 ), a finite energy monopole solution was claimed by Arunasalam and Kobakhidze. We report on a new class of solutions within this framework that was missed in the earlier analysis. This new class was discovered on performing consistent analytic asymptotic analyses of the nonlinear differential equations describing the model, the shooting method used in numerical solutions to boundary value problems for ordinary differential equations is replaced in our approach by a method that uses diagonal Pad&eacute, approximants. Our work uses the ansatz proposed by Cho and Maison to generate a static and spherically-symmetric monopole with finite energy and differs from that used in the solution of Arunasalam and Kobakhidze. Estimates of the total energy of the monopole are given, and detection prospects at colliders are briefly discussed.

The neutrino minimal standard model ($\nu$MSM) has been tightly constrained in the recent years, either from dark matter (DM) production or from X-ray and small-scale observations. However, current bounds on sterile neutrino DM can be significantly modified when considering a $\nu$MSM extension, in which the DM candidates interact via a massive (axial) vector field. In particular, standard production mechanisms in the early Universe can be affected through the decay of such a massive mediator. We perform an indirect detection analysis to study how the $\nu$MSM parameter-space constraints are affected by said interactions. We compute the X-ray fluxes considering a DM profile that self-consistently accounts for the particle physics model by using an updated version of the Ruffini-Arg\"uelles-Rueda (RAR) fermionic ("ino") model, instead of phenomenological profiles such as the Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) distribution. We show that the RAR profile accounting for interacting DM, is compatible with measurements of the Galaxy rotation curve and constraints on the DM self-interacting cross section from the Bullet cluster. A new analysis of the X-ray NuSTAR data in the central parsec of the Milky Way, is here performed to derive constraints on the self-interacting sterile neutrino parameter-space. Such constraints are stronger than those obtained with commonly used DM profiles, due to the dense DM core characteristic of the RAR profiles., Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables, published in in Physics of the Dark Universe. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1810.05756

We have suggested earlier that D-particles, which are stringy space-time defects predicted in brane-inspired models of the Universe, might constitute a component of dark matter, and that they might contribute to the masses of singlet fermions that could provide another component. Interactions of the quantum-fluctuating D-particles with matter induce vector forces that are mediated by a massless effective U(1) gauge field, the "D-photon", which is distinct from the ordinary photon and has different properties from dark photons. We discuss the form of interactions of D-matter with conventional matter induced by D-photon exchange and calculate their strength, which depends on the density of D-particles. Observations of the hydrogen 21~cm line at redshifts >= 15 can constrain these interactions and the density of D-matter in the early Universe., 15 pages revetex; possible minor text overlap with arXiv:1706.04080 [gr-qc] and arXiv:1712.03395 [hep-ph]

We discuss leptogenesis in a model with heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos propagating in a constant but otherwise generic CPT-violating axial time-like background (which could be motivated by string theory considerations). At temperatures much higher than the temperature of the electroweak phase transition we solve analytically but approximately (using Pade approximants) the corresponding Boltzmann equations, which describe lepton asymmetry generation due to the tree-level decays of the heavy neutrinos into standard model leptons. These leptons are effectively massless at such temperatures. The current work completes in a rigorous way a preliminary treatment of the same system, by some of the present authors. In this earlier work, lepton asymmetry was crudely estimated considering the decay of a right-handed neutrino at rest. Our present analysis includes thermal momentum modes for the heavy neutrino and this leads to a total lepton asymmetry which is bigger by a factor of two as compared to the previous estimate. Nevertheless, our current and preliminary results for the freezeout are found to be in agreement (within a 12.5% uncertainty). Our analysis depends on a novel use of Pade approximants to solve the Boltzmann equations and may be more widely useful in cosmology., Comment: 33 pages latex, two figures incorporated; text overlap with arXive:1412.7077