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Particle Physics and Cosmology: A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor Dimitri Nanopoulos

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A special issue of Universe (ISSN 2218-1997).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 3555

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Prof. Dr. Jun-Jie Cao

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Guest Editor

Department of Physics, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Interests: electroweak symmetry breaking; dark matter; asymmetry of matter and antimatter
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Prof. Dr. Yungui Gong

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Guest Editor

Department of Physics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Interests: gravity; cosmology
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Prof. Dr. Tianjun Li

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Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Interests: particle physics; grand unified theory; string phenomenology; cosmology
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Dr. Natsumi Nagata

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Guest Editor

Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113–0033, Japan
Interests: particle physics; cosmology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Supersymmetry provides a natural solution to the gauge hierarchy problem in the Standard Model (SM). In the supersymmetric SM, we can achieve gauge coupling unification, have a dark matter candidate, and break electroweak gauge symmetry through a radiative process. In particular, gauge coupling unification strongly suggests the Grand Unified Theory (GUT). Also, string theory is a promising candidate for quantum gravity, and the supersymmetric GUT can be constructed from string theory. Moreover, supersymmetry provides a natural framework for inflation. Prof. Dimitri Nanopoulos is one of the leading experts in the world on particle physics, supersymmetry, GUTs, string model building, and cosmology. For example, with various collaborators, he first studied the Higgs production at a hadronic collider via gluon fusion, proposed the flipped SU(5) model and constructed it from string theory, as well as proposed no-scale supergravity and studied its inflation.

This Special Issue is designed in honor of Prof. Dimitri Nanopoulos and to highlight the recent progress in particle physics and cosmology.

Prof. Dr. Jun-Jie Cao
Prof. Dr. Yungui Gong
Prof. Dr. Tianjun Li
Dr. Natsumi Nagata
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Universe is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

particle physics
supersymmetry
grand unified theory
string model building
cosmology

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 312 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spinor–Vector Duality and Mirror Symmetry

by Alon E. Faraggi

Universe 2024, 10(10), 402; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe10100402 - 19 Oct 2024

Viewed by 560

Abstract

Mirror symmetry was first observed in worldsheet string constructions, and was shown to have profound implications in the Effective Field Theory (EFT) limit of string compactifications, and for the properties of Calabi–Yau manifolds. It opened up a new field in pure mathematics, and was utilised in the area of enumerative geometry. Spinor–Vector Duality (SVD) is an extension of mirror symmetry. This can be readily understood in terms of the moduli of toroidal compactification of the Heterotic String, which includes the metric the antisymmetric tensor field and the Wilson line moduli. In terms of the toroidal moduli, mirror symmetry corresponds to mappings of the internal space moduli, whereas Spinor–Vector Duality corresponds to maps of the Wilson line moduli. In the past few of years, we demonstrated the existence of Spinor–Vector Duality in the effective field theory compactifications of string theories. This was achieved by starting with a worldsheet orbifold construction that exhibited Spinor–Vector Duality and resolving the orbifold singularities, hence generating a smooth, effective field theory limit with an imprint of the Spinor–Vector Duality. Just like mirror symmetry, the Spinor–Vector Duality can be used to study the properties of complex manifolds with vector bundles. Spinor–Vector Duality offers a top-down approach to the “Swampland” program, by exploring the imprint of the symmetries of the ultra-violet complete worldsheet string constructions in the effective field theory limit. The SVD suggests a demarcation line between (2,0) EFTs that possess an ultra-violet complete embedding versus those that do not. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Particle Physics and Cosmology: A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor Dimitri Nanopoulos)

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10 pages, 334 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Generic Analysis of Nucleon Decay Branching Fractions in Flipped SU(5) Grand Unification

by Koichi Hamaguchi, Shihwen Hor, Natsumi Nagata and Hiroki Takahashi

Universe 2024, 10(9), 379; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe10090379 - 23 Sep 2024

Viewed by 594

Abstract

In flipped SU(5) grand unified theories, the partial decay lifetimes of certain nucleon decay channels depend generically on an unknown unitary matrix, which arises when left-handed lepton fields are embedded into anti-fundamental representations of SU(5). This dependency is particularly relevant when the neutrino mass matrix has a generic structure, introducing uncertainty in the prediction of nucleon decay branching fractions within flipped SU(5). In this paper, we demonstrate that this uncertainty can be parametrized using two parameters, which can be determined by measuring the partial lifetimes of

p \to π^{0} e^{+}

p \to π^{0} μ^{+}

, and

n \to π^{0} \bar{ν}

. In addition, we establish upper limits on the ratios of the decay widths of these channels, offering a potential method to test flipped SU(5) in future nucleon decay experiments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Particle Physics and Cosmology: A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor Dimitri Nanopoulos)

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21 pages, 462 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Inflaton Decay in No-Scale Supergravity and Starobinsky-like Models

by Yohei Ema, Marcos A. G. Garcia, Wenqi Ke, Keith A. Olive and Sarunas Verner

Universe 2024, 10(6), 239; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe10060239 - 30 May 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 665

Abstract

We consider the decay of the inflaton in Starobinsky-like models arising from either an

R + R^{2}

theory of gravity or

N = 1

no-scale supergravity models. If Standard Model matter is simply introduced to the

R + R^{2}

theory, the [...] Read more.

We consider the decay of the inflaton in Starobinsky-like models arising from either an

R + R^{2}

theory of gravity or

N = 1

no-scale supergravity models. If Standard Model matter is simply introduced to the

R + R^{2}

theory, the inflaton (which appears when the theory is conformally transformed into the Einstein frame) couples to matter predominantly in Standard Model Higgs kinetic terms. This will typically lead to a reheating temperature of ∼3 ×

10^{9}

GeV. However, if the Standard Model Higgs is conformally coupled to curvature, the decay rate may be suppressed and vanishes for conformal coupling

ξ = 1 / 6

. Nevertheless, the inflaton decays through the conformal anomaly, leading to a reheating temperature of the order of

10^{8}

GeV. The Starobinsky potential may also arise in no-scale supergravity. In this case, the inflaton decays if there is a direct coupling of the inflaton to matter in the superpotential or to gauge fields through the gauge kinetic function. We also discuss the relation between the theories and demonstrate the correspondence between the no-scale models and the conformally coupled

R + R^{2}

theory (with

ξ = 1 / 6

). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Particle Physics and Cosmology: A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor Dimitri Nanopoulos)

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13 pages, 767 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Revisiting a Realistic Intersecting D6-Brane with Modified Soft SUSY Terms

by Imtiaz Khan, Waqas Ahmed, Tianjun Li and Shabbar Raza

Universe 2024, 10(4), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe10040176 - 11 Apr 2024

Viewed by 971

Abstract

Because there are a few typos in the supersymmetry-breaking sfermion masses and trilinear soft term, regarding the current Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and dark matter searches, we revisit a three-family Pati–Salam model based on intersecting D6-branes in Type IIA string theory on a [...] Read more.

T^{6} / (Z_{2} \times Z_{2})

orientifold with a realistic phenomenology. We study the viable parameter space and discuss the spectrum consistent with the current LHC Supersymmetry searches and the dark matter relic density bounds from the Planck 2018 data. For the gluinos and first two generations of sfermions, we observe that the gluino mass is in the range [2, 14] TeV, the squarks mass range is [2, 13] TeV and the sleptons mass is in the range [1, 5] TeV. We achieve the cold dark matter relic density consistent with 5

σ

Planck 2018 bounds via A-funnel and coannihilation channels such as stop–neutralino, stau–neutralino, and chargino–neutralino. Except for a few chargino–neutralino coannihilation solutions, these solutions satisfy current nucleon-neutralino spin-independent and spin-dependent scattering cross-sections and may be probed by future dark matter searches. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Particle Physics and Cosmology: A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor Dimitri Nanopoulos)

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Particle Physics and Cosmology: A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor Dimitri Nanopoulos

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