Search Results (17)

This is a personal review of Steven Weinberg’s scientific autobiography “A Life in Physics”. A reflection on both, personal aspects and scientific milestones of Professor Weinberg’s role-model life is conducted to honour his lasting accomplishments as a great physicist, academic teacher, and public activist in progressing high-energy particle theory and theoretical cosmology, and in raising public support for fundamental physics. Full article

Using a Dyson–Schwinger approach, we perform an analysis of the non-trivial ground state of thermal $SU\left(N\right)$ Yang–Mills theory in the non-perturbative regime where chiral symmetry is dynamically broken by a mass gap. Basic thermodynamic observables such as energy density and pressure are derived analytically, using Jacobi elliptic functions. The results are compared with the lattice results. Good agreement is found at low temperatures, providing a viable scenario for a gas of massive glue states populating higher levels of the spectrum of the theory. At high temperatures, a scenario without glue states consistent with a massive scalar field is observed, showing an interesting agreement with lattice data. The possibility is discussed that the results derived in this analysis open up a novel pathway beyond lattice to precision studies of phase transitions with false vacuum and cosmological relics that depend on the equations of state in strong coupled gauge theories of the type of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). Full article

Homochirality, the ubiquitous preference of biological molecules, such as amino acids, sugars, and phospholipids, for a single enantiomeric form, is a fundamental characteristic of life. This consistent bias across the biosphere, where proteins predominantly utilize L-amino acids and nucleic acids predominantly utilize D-sugars, is not merely a biochemical peculiarity but a crucial aspect of life’s molecular architecture. However, the origin of this homochirality remains one of the most compelling and unresolved mysteries in the study of life’s origins, drawing inquiry from fields as diverse as cosmology, physics, chemistry, and biology. This article provides an overview of chirality’s pervasive influence across these domains, tracing its potential origins from early Earth’s conditions to its pivotal role in shaping both natural phenomena and the technological advancements that define our future. Full article

This is a review/research paper on anomalies applied in a bottom–up approach to standard model and gravity. It is divided into two parts. The first consists of a proper review of anomalies in quantum field theories. Anomalies are analyzed according to three different methods: a perturbative one based on a Feynman diagram, a non-perturbative one relying on the Schwinger–DeWitt approach, and, third, one hinging on the Atiyah–Singer family’s index theorem. The three methods are applied both to chiral gauge anomalies and trace anomalies. The fundamental distinction, which our presentation leads to, is between obstructive (O) and non-obstructive (NO) anomalies. The former is tied to the non-existence of fermion propagators, which fatally maim the corresponding theory. In the second part, we apply this analysis to the SM and a variety of its extensions, which are immersed in a gravitational background, and we find that they are all plagued by a residual chiral trace anomaly. To completely eliminate all kinds of dangerous anomalies in SM-like theories, we propose a somewhat unconventional scheme and exemplify it by means of an explicit model. The latter is a left–right symmetric model. We embed it in a Weyl geometry to render it a conformal invariant. We then deal with some of its quantum aspects, particularly its even (NO) trace anomalies and the means to preserve its conformal invariance at the quantum level. We briefly review renormalization and unitarity in the framework of similar models discussed in the existing literature. Finally, we present a possible (conjectural) application of the model to describe the junction between cosmology and quantum field theory. Full article

We discuss an extended model of FRW cosmology with additional chiral tensor particles. We discuss the influence of these particles on the expansion rate of the Universe, their direct interactions with the constituents of the early Universe plasma, we determine their cosmological place and derive updated cosmological constraints on their interaction strength. Full article

We construct and examine a holonomy-corrected chiral fields model of cosmological relevance. Specifically, we holonomize the Hamiltonian corresponding to a quintom field scenario with additional kinetic interaction (governed by the constant chiral metric, $m_{ab}$) on a flat FLRW background and contrast the resulting model with the corresponding purely classical system. In particular, it is shown that the single LQC bouncing stage is ensured to be realized, provided the full chiral kinetic energy function does not change sign during evolution. (As preparation, a particularly simple k-essence field is examined within the effective LQC scheme; some exact solutions are obtained in the process.) Additionally, under the said assumption, it is established that the landmark bouncing mechanism of standard (effective) LQC is still guaranteed to be featured even when taking any finite number of fields ${\varphi }^1,\dots {\varphi }^m$ and $m_{ab}$ to be dependent on such fields (the particular zero-potential case corresponding to a family of simple purely kinetic k-essence multi-field cosmology models). Full article

A consistent theory of free tachyons has shown how tachyon neutrinos can explain major cosmological phenomena, dark energy and dark matter. Now, we investigate how tachyon neutrinos might interact with other particles: the weak interactions. Using the quantized field operators for electrons and tachyon neutrinos, the simplest interaction shows how the chirality selection rule, put in by force in the Standard Model, comes out naturally. Then, I wander into a re-study of what we do with negative frequencies of plane wave solutions of relativistic wave equations. The findings are simple and surprising, leading to a novel understanding of how to construct quantum field theories. Full article

In this paper, we present an analysis of a chiral cosmological scenario from the perspective of K-essence formalism. In this setup, several scalar fields interact within the kinetic and potential sectors. However, we only consider a flat Friedmann–Robertson–Lamaître–Walker universe coupled minimally to two quintom fields: one quintessence and one phantom. We examine a classical cosmological framework, where analytical solutions are obtained. Indeed, we present an explanation of the “big-bang” singularity by means of a “big-bounce”. Moreover, having a barotropic fluid description and for a particular set of parameters, the phantom line is in fact crossed. Additionally, for the quantum counterpart, the Wheeler–DeWitt equation is analytically solved for various instances, where the factor-ordering problem has been taken into account (measured by the factor Q). Hence, this approach allows us to compute the probability density of the previous two classical subcases. It turns out that its behavior is in effect damped as the scale factor and the scalar fields evolve. It also tends towards the phantom sector when the factor ordering constant $\mathrm{Q}\ll 0$. Full article

In the case of two-scalar field cosmology, and specifically for the Chiral model, we determine an exact solution for the field equations with an anisotropic background space. The exact solution can describe anisotropic inflation with a Kantowski–Sachs geometry and can be seen as the anisotropic analogue of the hyperbolic inflation. Finally, we investigate the stability conditions for the exact solution. Full article

In this work, we present the general differential geometry of a background in which the space–time has both torsion and curvature with internal symmetries being described by gauge fields, and that is equipped to couple spinorial matter fields having spin and energy as well as gauge currents: torsion will turn out to be equivalent to an axial-vector massive Proca field and, because the spinor can be decomposed in its two chiral projections, torsion can be thought as the mediator that keeps spinors in stable configurations; we will justify this claim by studying some limiting situations. We will then proceed with a second chapter, where the material presented in the first chapter will be applied to specific systems in order to solve problems that seems to affect theories without torsion: hence the problem of gravitational singularity formation and positivity of the energy are the most important, and they will also lead the way for a discussion about the Pauli exclusion principle and the concept of macroscopic approximation. In a third and final chapter, we are going to investigate, in the light of torsion dynamics, some of the open problems in the standard models of particles and cosmology which would not be easily solvable otherwise. Full article

Metastable colloids made of crystalline and/or non-crystalline matters render abilities of photonic resonators susceptible to chiral chemical and circularly polarized light sources. By assuming that μm-size colloids and co-colloids consisting of π- and/or σ-conjugated polymers dispersed into an optofluidic medium are artificial models of open-flow, non-equilibrium coacervates, we showcase experimentally resonance effects in chirogenesis and photochirogenesis, revealed by gigantic boosted chiroptical signals as circular dichroism (CD), optical rotation dispersion, circularly polarized luminescence (CPL), and CPL excitation (CPLE) spectral datasets. The resonance in chirogenesis occurs at very specific refractive indices (RIs) of the surrounding medium. The chirogenesis is susceptible to the nature of the optically active optofluidic medium. Moreover, upon an excitation-wavelength-dependent circularly polarized (CP) light source, a fully controlled absolute photochirogenesis, which includes all chiroptical generation, inversion, erase, switching, and short-/long-lived memories, is possible when the colloidal non-photochromic and photochromic polymers are dispersed in an achiral optofluidic medium with a tuned RI. The hand of the CP light source is not a determining factor for the product chirality. These results are associated with my experience concerning amphiphilic polymerizable colloids, in which, four decades ago, allowed proposing a perspective that colloids are connectable to light, polymers, helix, coacervates, and panspermia hypotheses, nuclear physics, biology, radioisotopes, homochirality question, first life, and cosmology. Full article

Chemistry as a natural science occupies the length and temporal scales ranging between the formation of atoms and molecules as quasi-classical objects, and the formation of proto-life systems showing catalytic synthesis, replication, and the capacity for Darwinian evolution. The role of chiral dissymmetry in the chemical evolution toward life is manifested in how the increase of chemical complexity, from atoms and molecules to complex open systems, accompanies the emergence of biological homochirality toward life. Chemistry should express chirality not only as molecular structural dissymmetry that at the present is described in chemical curricula by quite effective pedagogical arguments, but also as a cosmological phenomenon. This relates to a necessarily better understanding of the boundaries of chemistry with physics and biology. Full article

We investigate the ability of the exponential power-law inflation to be a phenomenologically correct model of the early universe. We study General Relativity (GR) scalar cosmology equations in Ivanov–Salopek–Bond (or Hamilton–Jacobi like) representation where the Hubble parameter H is the function of a scalar field $\varphi$. Such approach admits calculation of the potential for given $H\left(\varphi \right)$ and consequently reconstruction of $f\left(R\right)$ gravity in parametric form. By this manner the Starobinsky potential and non-minimal Higgs potential (and consequently the corresponding $f\left(R\right)$ gravity) were reconstructed using constraints on the model’s parameters. We also consider methods for generalising the obtained solutions to the case of chiral cosmological models and scalar-tensor gravity. Models based on the quadratic relationship between the Hubble parameter and the function of the non-minimal interaction of the scalar field and curvature are also considered. Comparison to observation (PLANCK 2018) data shows that all models under consideration give correct values for the scalar spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio under a wide range of exponential-power-law model’s parameters. Full article

We present a qualitative analysis of chiral cosmological model (CCM) dynamics with two scalar fields in the spatially flat Friedman–Robertson–Walker Universe. The asymptotic behavior of chiral models is investigated based on the characteristics of the critical points of the selfinteraction potential and zeros of the metric components of the chiral space. The classification of critical points of CCMs is proposed. The role of zeros of the metric components of the chiral space in the asymptotic dynamics is analysed. It is shown that such zeros lead to new critical points of the corresponding dynamical systems. Examples of models with different types of zeros of metric components are represented. Full article

We review consequences for the radiation and dark sectors of the cosmological model arising from the postulate that the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is governed by an SU(2) rather than a U(1) gauge principle. We also speculate on the possibility of actively assisted structure formation due to the de-percolation of lump-like configurations of condensed ultralight axions with a Peccei–Quinn scale comparable to the Planck mass. The chiral-anomaly induced potential of the axion condensate receives contributions from SU(2)/SU(3) Yang–Mills factors of hierarchically separated scales which act in a screened (reduced) way in confining phases. Full article