By significantly increasing the nuclear mass, a strongly interacting massive particle (SIMP) bound to an iron nucleus would cause a characteristic change in the spectrum of muonic iron. At temperatures high enough that such atoms are completely stripped of electrons, the effect is directly observable as a $0.2\%$ shift in the energies of high angular momentum states. This phenomenon provides a new test for the existence of SIMPs, which have been proposed as dark matter candidates, and as candidates for the lightest supersymmetric particle.

Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) with a purely transverse momentum transfer can be interpreted as Fourier transforms of the distribution of partons in impact parameter space. The helicity-flip GPD $E(x,0,-{\mathit{\Delta }}_{\perp }^2)$ is related to the distortion of parton distribution functions in impact parameter space if the target is not a helicity eigenstate, but has some transverse polarization. This transverse distortion can be used to develop an intuitive explanation for various transverse single spin asymmetries.

Mellin moments of off-forward distribution functions are even polynomials of the skewedness parameter $\xi .$ This constraint, called the polynomiality property, follows from Lorentz and time-reversal invariance. We prove that the unpolarized off-forward distribution functions in the chiral quark-soliton model satisfy the polynomiality property. The proof is an important contribution to the demonstration that the description of off-forward distribution functions in the model is consistent. As a by-product of the proof we derive explicit model expressions for moments of the D term and compute the first coefficient in the Gegenbauer expansion for this term.

Hu has presented a harmonic-space method for calculating the effects of weak gravitational lensing on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) over the full sky. Computing the lensed power spectra to first order in the deflection power requires one to formulate the lensing displacement beyond the tangent-space approximation. We point out that for CMB polarization this displacement must undergo geometric corrections on the spherical sky to maintain statistical isotropy of the lensed fields. Although not discussed by Hu, these geometric effects are implicit in his analysis. However, there they are hidden by an overly compact notation that is both unconventional and rather confusing. Here we aim to ameliorate this deficiency by providing a rigorous derivation of the lensed spherical power spectra.

In this paper we map the D-brane projector states in vacuum string field theory to noncommutative Gopakumar-Minwalla-Strominger (GMS) solitons based on the recently proposed map of Witten’s star to Moyal’s star. We find that the singular geometry conditions of Moore and Taylor are associated with the commutative modes of these projector states in our framework. The properties of the candidate closed string state and the wedge state are also discussed, and the possibility of a non-GMS soliton in vacuum string field theory is commented upon.

The nature of the dark matter of the Universe is yet unknown and most likely is connected with new physics. The search for its composition is underway through direct and indirect detection. Fundamental physical aspects such as energy threshold, geometry and location are taken into account to investigate proposed neutrino telescopes of ${\mathrm{km}}^3$ volume sensitivities to dark matter. These sensitivities are just sufficient to test a few weakly interacting massive particle scenarios. Telescopes of ${\mathrm{km}}^3$ volume, such as IceCube, can definitely discover or exclude superheavy $(\mathrm{M}>{10}^{10}\mathrm{GeV})$ strong interacting massive particles (simpzillas). Smaller neutrino telescopes such as ANTARES, AMANDA-II and NESTOR can probe a large region of simpzilla parameter space.

Under certain conditions some solutions to five-dimensional heterotic M theory can be accurately described by the four-dimensional action of the theory. We consider the connection between solutions of four- and five-dimensional heterotic M theory when moving five-branes are present in the bulk. We begin by describing how to raise the known four-dimensional moving brane solutions to obtain approximate solutions to the five-dimensional theory, presenting for the first time the metric template necessary for this procedure. We then present the first solutions to the five-dimensional theory containing moving five-branes. We then discuss the correspondence between solutions of the five- and four-dimensional actions as presented. Specifically, we show that our exact, five-dimensional solution only corresponds to one of the previously known four-dimensional solutions when the embedded five-brane is static. In other words, higher Kaluza-Klein modes are essential in the description of the five-brane’s motion in our new solution.

Quantum gravity phenomenology opens up the possibility of probing Planck scale physics. Thus, by exploiting the generic properties that a semiclassical state of the compound system fermions plus gravity should have, an effective dynamics of spin-1/2 particles is obtained within the framework of loop quantum gravity. Namely, at length scales much larger than Planck length ${\mathcal{l}}_P\sim {10}^{-33}\mathrm{cm}$ and below the wavelength of the fermion, the spin-1/2 dynamics in flat spacetime includes Planck scale corrections. In particular we obtain modified dispersion relations in vacuo for fermions. These corrections yield a time of arrival delay of the spin-1/2 particles with respect to a light signal and, in the case of neutrinos, a novel flavor oscillation. To detect these effects the corresponding particles must be highly energetic and should travel long distances. Hence neutrino bursts accompanying gamma ray bursts or ultrahigh energy cosmic rays could be considered. Remarkably, future neutrino telescopes may be capable of testing such effects. This paper provides a detailed account of the calculations and elaborates on results previously reported in a Letter. These are further amended by introducing a real parameter ${\rm Y}$ aimed at encoding our lack of knowledge of scaling properties of the gravitational degrees of freedom.

We calculate the back reaction of cosmological perturbations on a general relativistic variable which measures the local expansion rate of the Universe. Specifically, we consider a cosmological model in which matter is described by a single field. We analyze back reaction both in a matter-dominated Universe and in a phase of scalar field-driven chaotic inflation. In both cases, we find that the leading infrared terms contributing to the back reaction vanish when the local expansion rate is measured at a fixed value of the matter field which is used as a clock, whereas they do not appear to vanish if the expansion rate is evaluated at a fixed value of the background time. We discuss possible implications for more realistic models with a more complicated matter sector.

We carry out a comprehensive study of the dynamics of large-scale perturbations in quintessence scenarios. We model the contents of the Universe by a perfect fluid with equation of state $w_{\mathrm{f}}$ and a scalar field Q with potential $V\left(Q\right).$ We are able to reduce the perturbation equations to a system of four first-order equations. During each of the five main regimes of quintessence field behavior, these equations have constant coefficients, enabling an analytic solution of the perturbation evolution by eigenvector decomposition. We determine these solutions and discuss their main properties.

Going beyond the second order slow-roll approximation of inflation, we consider next order corrections to the nonlinear Abel equation of Stewart and Lyth. By a truncated series expansion we determine new blue eigenvalues $n_{\mathrm{s}}>1\mathrm{}$ for the spectral index approaching the scale-invariant Harrison-Zel’dovich spectrum as a limiting point.

The Bianchi type I cosmological model is brought into a form where the evolution of observables is governed by the unconstrained Hamiltonian that coincides with the Hamiltonian describing the relative motion of particles in the integrable three-body hyperbolic Euler-Calogero-Sutherland system.

We propose a description of dark energy and acceleration of the universe in extended supergravities with de Sitter (dS) solutions. Some of them are related to M theory with noncompact internal spaces. Masses of ultralight scalars in these models are quantized in units of the Hubble constant: $m^2{=nH}^2.$ If the dS solution corresponds to a minimum of the effective potential, the universe eventually becomes dS space. If the dS solution corresponds to a maximum or a saddle point, which is the case in all known models based on $N=8\mathrm{}$ supergravity, the flat universe eventually stops accelerating and collapses to a singularity. We show that in these models, as well as in the simplest models of dark energy based on $N=1\mathrm{}$ supergravity, the typical time remaining before the global collapse is comparable to the present age of the universe, ${t=O(10\mathrm{}}^{10})\mathrm{yr}.$ We discuss the possibility of distinguishing between various models and finding our destiny using cosmological observations.

Most early universe scenarios predict negligible magnetic fields on cosmological scales if they are unprocessed during subsequent expansion of the universe. We present a new numerical treatment of the evolution of primordial fields and apply it to weakly helical seeds as they occur in certain early universe scenarios. If seed fields created during the electroweak phase transition have close to thermal strength and coherence lengths a few orders of magnitude below the horizon scale, initial helicities not much larger than the baryon to photon number can lead to fields of $\sim {10}^{-13}\mathrm{G}$ at scales up to 100 parsec today.

The pseudoscalar quarkonium state ${\eta }_4{(}^1{S}_0),$ formed by the standard model fourth generation quarks, is the best candidate among the fourth generation quarkonia to be produced at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and Very Large Hadron Collider. The production of this $J^{\mathrm{PC}}{=0\mathrm{}}^{-+}$ resonance is discussed and the background processes are studied to obtain the integrated luminosity limits for the discovery, depending on its mass.

We analyze the angular momentum distribution of black holes produced in high energy collisions in space-times with extra spatial dimensions. We show that the black hole spin significantly affects the energy and angular spectra of Hawking radiation. Our results show the experimental sensitivity to the angular momentum distribution and provide tests of black hole production dynamics.

The scalar-isoscalar propagator of the effective linear $\sigma$ model of meson dynamics is investigated with the help of an expansion in the number of the Goldstone bosons. A generic scenario is suggested for the temperature or density driven evolution of its pole in the second Riemann sheet. An extended temperature range, correlated with characteristic pole locations, is found where the phenomenon of threshold enhancement takes place in the corresponding spectral function.

In the framework of the $k_T$-factorization approach, we analyze the production of various quarkonium states at modern colliders and discuss the origin and the size of theoretical uncertainties. We find that the effects of the initial gluon off-shellness can provide a reasonable explanation for the $J/\psi$ spin alignment in both $\mathrm{pp}$ and $\mathrm{ep}$ collisions. We point out the fundamental role of the polarization observables, which indicate a clear difference between the collinear and noncollinear interpretations of QCD.

In this work, using the fact that in 3-3-1 models the same leptonic bilinear contributes to the masses of both charged leptons and neutrinos, we develop an effective operator mechanism to generate mass for all leptons. The effective operators have dimension five for the case of charged leptons and dimension seven for neutrinos. By adding extra scalar multiplets and imposing the discrete symmetry $Z_9\otimes Z_2$ we are able to generate realistic textures for the leptonic mixing matrix. This mechanism requires new physics at the TeV scale.

We discuss the possible existence of an observational window, in the TeV-PeV energy range, for the detection of prompt neutrinos from the decay of charmed particles produced in cosmic-ray interactions with the atmosphere. The flux calculations for prompt muon and tau neutrinos are subject to large uncertainties, which we quantify. We investigate the interplay of the predicted fluxes with those produced by the flavor oscillation of conventional atmospheric neutrinos, and by anticipated cosmic sources. We calculate the event rates for the detection of prompt neutrinos and argue that they may be observable in a kilometer-scale neutrino telescope.