In this paper we discuss massive gravity in de Sitter space via gravitational Higgs mechanism, which provides a nonlinear definition thereof. The Higgs scalars are described by a nonlinear sigma model, which includes higher derivative terms required to obtain the Fierz-Pauli mass term. Using the aforesaid non-perturbative definition, we address appearance of an enhanced local symmetry and a null norm state in the linearized massive gravity in de Sitter space at the special value of the graviton mass to the Hubble parameter ratio. By studying full non-perturbative equations of motion, we argue that there is no enhanced symmetry in the full nonlinear theory. We then argue that in the full nonlinear theory no null norm state is expected to arise at the aforesaid special value. This suggests that no ghost might be present for lower graviton mass values and the full nonlinear theory might be unitary for all values of the graviton mass and the Hubble parameter with no van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity. We argue that this is indeed the case by studying full nonlinear Hamiltonian for the relevant conformal and helicity-0 longitudinal modes. In particular, we argue that no negative norm state is present in the full nonlinear theory.
Geodetic evolution of a de-Sitter brane is exclusively driven by a Higgs potential, rather than by a plain cosmological constant. The deviation from Einstein gravity, parameterized by the conserved bulk energy, is characterized by a hairy horizon which serves as the locus of unbroken symmetry. The quartic structure of the potential, singled out on finiteness grounds of the total (including the dark component) energy density, chooses the no-boundary proposal.
The Schwarzschild-de Sitter and Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter black hole metrics appear as exact solutions in the recently formulated massive gravity of de Rham, Gabadadze and Tolley (dRGT), where the mass term sets the curvature scale. They occur within a two-parameter family of dGRT mass terms. They show no trace of a cloud of scalar graviton modes, and in the limit of vanishing graviton mass they go smoothly to the Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordström metrics.
The measured Standard Model parameters lie in a range such that the Higgs potential, once extrapolated up to high scales, develops a minimum of negative energy density. This has important cosmological implications. In particular, during inflation, quantum fluctuations could have pushed the Higgs field beyond its potential barrier, triggering the formation of anti-de Sitter regions, with fatal consequences for our universe. By requiring that this did not happen, one can in principle connect (and constrain) Standard Model parameters with the energy scale of inflation. In this context, we highlig…
This paper investigates an integrable system which is related to hyperbolic monopoles; ie the Bogomolny Yang-Mills-Higgs equations in (2+1) anti-de Sitter space which are integrable and whose solutions can be obtained using analytical methods. In particular, families of soliton solutions have been constructed explicitly and their dynamics has been investigated in some detail.
The behaviour of a massive, non-interacting and non-minimally coupled quantised scalar field in an expanding de Sitter background is investigated by solving the field evolution for an arbitrary initial state. In this approach there is no need to choose a vacuum in order to provide a definition for particle states. We conclude that the expanding de Sitter space is a stable equilibrium configuration under small perturbations of the initial conditions. Depending on the initial state, the energy density can approach its asymptotic value from above or below, the latter of which implies a violation …
We perform cosmological perturbation theory in Hassan-Rosen bimetric gravity for general homogeneous and isotropic backgrounds. In the de Sitter approximation, we obtain decoupled sets of massless and massive scalar gravitational fluctuations. Matter perturbations then evolve like in Einstein gravity. We perturb the future de Sitter regime by the ratio of matter to dark energy, producing quasi-de Sitter space. In this more general setting the massive and massless fluctuations mix. We argue that in the quasi-de Sitter regime, the growth of structure in bimetric gravity differs from that of Eins…
In the framework of massive gravity with a de Sitter reference metric, we study homogeneous and isotropic solutions with positive spatial curvature. Remarkably, we find that bounces can occur when cosmological matter satisfies the strong energy condition, in contrast to what happens in classical general relativity. This is due to the presence in the Friedmann equations of additional terms, which depend on the scale factor and its derivatives and can be interpreted as an effective fluid. We present a detailed study of the system using a phase space analysis. After having identified the fixed po…
We show that standard Einstein gravity coupled to a free conformal field theory (CFT) in Anti de Sitter space can undergo a Higgs phenomenon whereby the graviton acquires a nonzero mass (and three extra polarizations). We show that the essential ingredients of this mechanism are the discreteness of the energy spectrum in AdS space, and unusual boundary conditions on the elementary fields of the CFT. These boundary conditions can be interpreted as implying the existence of a 3-d defect CFT living at the boundary of the AdS space. Our free-field computation sheds light on the essential, model-in…
We construct a perturbative S-matrix for interacting massive scalar fields in global de Sitter space. Our S-matrix is formulated in terms of asymptotic particle states in the far past and future, taking appropriate care for light fields whose wavefunctions decay only very slowly near the de Sitter conformal boundaries. An alternative formulation expresses this S-matrix in terms of residues of poles in analytically-continued Euclidean correlators (computed in perturbation theory), making it clear that the standard Minkowski-space result is obtained in the flat-space limit. Our S-matrix transfor…
In the framework of the recently proposed models of massive gravity, defined with respect to a de Sitter reference metric, we obtain new homogeneous and isotropic solutions for arbitrary cosmological matter and arbitrary spatial curvature. These solutions can be classified into three branches. In the first two, the massive gravity terms behave like a cosmological constant. In the third branch, the massive gravity effects can be described by a time evolving effective fluid with rather remarkable features, including the property to behave as a cosmological constant at late time.
Using the modern Kaluza-Klein theory of gravity (or the Induced Matter theory), we study the Dirac equation for massive neutrinos on a de Sitter background metric from a 5D Riemann-flat (and hence Ricci-flat) extended de Sitter metric, on which is defined the vacuum for test massless 1/2-neutral fields minimally coupled to gravity and free of any other interactions. We obtain that the effective 4D masses of the neutrinos can only take three possible values, which are related to the (static) foliation of the fifth and noncompact extra dimension.
We study the superradiance instability of charged massive scalar field in the background of Kerr-Newman-anti-de Sitter black hole. By employing the asymptotic matching technique to solve Klein-Gordon equation analytically, the complex parts of quasinormal frequencies are shown to be positive in the regime of superradiance. Because the calculation is performed in the approximation of small black hole, the result indicates that small Kerr-Newman-anti-de Sitter black hole is unstable against the massive scalar field perturbation with small charge.
Closed forms are derived for the effective actions for free, massive spinless fields in anti-de Sitter spacetimes in arbitrary dimensions. The results have simple expressions in terms of elementary functions (for odd dimensions) or multiple Gamma functions (for even dimensions). We use these to argue against the quantum validity of a recently-proposed duality relating such theories with differing masses and cosmological constants.
Motivated by the recently proposed de Sitter swampland conjecture, a formally same condition imposed instead on the convex and real exact effective potential is contemplated. Compared to the original conjecture, the modified condition admits a broader class of low-energy effective theories such as those with local maxima and/or false de Sitter vacua with some restrictions, as long as there is an anti-de Sitter vacuum. The observed accelerating expansion of the universe might therefore be attributed to a quintessence or a metastable vacuum. The former solution can be simplified and thus better …
We study New Massive Gravity on de Sitter background and discuss several interrelated properties: The appearance of an enhanced symmetry point at linearized level where the theory becomes partially massless; its absence at full nonlinear level, and its relation with the existence of static black hole solutions and their hair parameter.
By considering Hadamard vacuum states, we first construct the two-point functions associated with Stueckelberg massive electromagnetism in de Sitter and anti-de Sitter spacetimes. Then, from the general formalism developed in [A. Belokogne and A. Folacci, Phys. Rev. D \textbf{93}, 044063 (2016)], we obtain an exact analytical expression for the vacuum expectation value of the renormalized stress-energy tensor of the massive vector field propagating in these maximally symmetric spacetimes.
We explore the low-temperature behavior of the Abelian Higgs model in AdS_4, away from the probe limit in which back-reaction of matter fields on the metric can be neglected. Over a significant range of charges for the complex scalar, we observe a second order phase transition at finite temperature. The symmetry-breaking states are superconducting black holes. At least when the charge of the scalar is not too small, we observe at low temperatures the emergence of a domain wall structure characterized by a definite index of refraction. We also compute the conductivity as a function of frequency…
On the one hand, David Andriot and Christoph Roupec proposed an alternative refined de Sitter conjecture, which gives a natural condition on a combination of the first and second derivatives of the scalar potential. On the other hand, in our previous article, we have found that Palatini Higgs inflation model is in strong tension with the refined de Sitter swampland conjecture. Therefore, following our previous research, in this article we examine if Higgs inflation model and its two variations: Palatini Higgs inflation and Higgs-Dilaton model can satisfy the further refining de Sitter swamplan…
We find the propagator and calculate the tree level scattering amplitude between two covariantly conserved sources in an Anti-de Sitter background for the most general D-dimensional quadratic, four-derivative, gravity with a Pauli-Fierz mass. We also calculate the Newtonian potential for various limits of the theory in flat space. We show how the recently introduced three dimensional New Massive Gravity is uniquely singled out among higher derivative models as a (tree level) unitary model and that its Newtonian limit is equivalent to that of the usual massive gravity in flat space.
We provide a systematic and comprehensive derivation of the linearized dynamics of massive and partially massless spin-2 particles in a Schwarzschild (anti) de Sitter black hole background, in four and higher spacetime dimensions. In particular, we show how to obtain the quadratic actions for the propagating modes and recast the resulting equations of motion in a Schrödinger-like form. In the case of partially massless fields in Schwarzschild de Sitter spacetime, we study the isospectrality between modes of different parity. In particular, we prove isospectrality analytically for modes with mu…
It is shown that an action inspired from a BF and Chern-Simons model, based on the $AdS_4$ isometry group SO(3, 2), with the inclusion of a Higgs potential term, furnishes the MacDowell-Mansouri-Chamseddine-West action for gravity, with a Gauss-Bonnet and cosmological constant term. The $AdS_4$ space is a natural vacuum of the theory. Using Vasiliev's procedure to construct higher spin massless fields in AdS spaces and a suitable star product, we discuss the preliminary steps to construct the corresponding higher-spin action in $AdS_4$ space representing the higher spin extension of this model…
We continue developing cosmological models involving nilpotent chiral superfields, which provide a simple unified description of inflation and the current acceleration of the universe in the supergravity context. We describe here a general class of models with a positive cosmological constant at the minimum of the potential, such that supersymmetry is spontaneously broken in the direction of the nilpotent superfield $S$. In the unitary gauge, these models have a simple action where all highly non-linear fermionic terms of the classical Volkov-Akulov action disappear. We present masses for boso…
Stable non-supersymmetric Anti-de Sitter (AdS) vacua of string theory are widely believed not to exist. In this letter, we analytically compute the full bosonic Kaluza-Klein spectrum around the ${\rm G_2}$-invariant non-supersymmetric $\textrm{AdS}_4$ solution of massive IIA supergravity, and show that it is perturbatively stable. We also provide evidence that six other non-supersymmetric $\textrm{AdS}_4$ solutions of massive IIA supergravity are perturbatively stable. Since previous studies have indicated that these AdS vacua may also be non-perturbatively stable, our findings pose a challeng…
If the Standard Model (SM) of elementary particle physics is assumed to hold good to arbitrarily high energies, then, for the best fit values of the parameters, the scalar potential of the Standard Model Higgs field turns negative at a high scale $μ_{\rm inst}$. If the physics beyond the SM is such that it does not modify this feature of the Higgs potential and if the Hubble parameter during inflation ($H_{\rm inf}$) is such that $H_{\rm inf} \gg μ_{\rm inst}$, then, quantum fluctuations of the SM Higgs during inflation make it extremely unlikely that after inflation it will be found in the me…
Split Representations and Bubble Resummation for Massive de Sitter Correlators
Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, Werner-Heisenberg-Institut（马克斯·普朗克物理研究所，维尔纳·海森堡研究所）；Max Planck-IAS-NTU Center for Particle Physics, Cosmology and Geometry（马克斯·普朗克粒子物理、宇宙学与几何中心）；Arnold-Sommerfeld-Center for Theoretical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München（阿诺德·索末菲理论物理中心，慕尼黑大学）
We study strongly coupled mass-deformed-CFT on a fixed de Sitter spacetime in three dimensions via holography. We elucidate the global causal structure of the four-dimensional spacetime dual to the de Sitter invariant vacuum state. The conformal boundaries of de Sitter appear as spacelike defects sourced by the mass deformation, which extend into the bulk as curvature singularities in AdS. We compute all one- and two-point functions of the deformed-CFT stress tensor and a scalar operator order-by-order in the mass deformation for a simple holographic model. These correlation functions admit a …
We compute the Pauli-Jordan, Hadamard and Feynman propagators for the massive metrical perturbations on de Sitter space. They are expressed both in terms of mode sums and in invariant forms.
Two different systems of the generalized coherent states for the de Sitter group are constructed. These systems have the physical sense of particles and antiparticles over de Sitter space and obeys the Klein-Gordon equation. Using these systems the de Sitter-invariant propagators for massive spin~0 and~1/2 fields over de Sitter space are constructed.
We derive the decoupling limit of Massive Gravity on de Sitter in an arbitrary number of space-time dimensions d. By embedding d-dimensional de Sitter into d+1-dimensional Minkowski, we extract the physical helicity-1 and helicity-0 polarizations of the graviton. The resulting decoupling theory is similar to that obtained around Minkowski. We take great care at exploring the partially massless limit and define the unique fully non-linear candidate theory that is free of the helicity-0 mode in the decoupling limit, and which therefore propagates only four degrees of freedom in four dimensions. …
We give general arguments that any interacting non--conformal {\it classical} field theory in de Sitter space leads to the possibility of constructing a perpetuum mobile. The arguments are based on the observation that massive free falling particles can radiate other massive particles on the classical level as seen by the free falling observer. The intensity of the radiation process is non-zero even for particles with any finite mass, i.e. with a wavelength which is within the causal domain. Hence, we conclude that either de Sitter space can not exist eternally or that one can build a perpetuu…
We examine long-wavelength correlation functions of massive scalar fields in de Sitter spacetime. For the theory with a quartic self-interaction, the two-point function is calculated up to two loops. Comparing our results with the Hartree-Fock approximation and with the stochastic approach shows that the former resums only the cactus type diagrams, whereas the latter contains the sunset diagram as well and produces the correct result. We also demonstrate that the long-wavelength expectation value of the commutator of two fields is equal to zero both for spacelike and timelike separated points.
We explore trace-anomaly driven inflation in modified gravity. It is explicitly shown that in $T^2$ teleparallel gravity, the de Sitter inflation can occur, although quasi de Sitter inflation happens in $R^2$ gravity. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of the trace anomaly on inflation. It is found that in $f(T)$ gravity, the de Sitter inflation can end because it becomes unstable due to the trace anomaly, whereas also in higher derivative gravity, the de Sitter inflation can be realized and it will be over thanks to the trace anomaly for smaller parameter regions in comparison with tho…
Since horizon formation in global anti-de Sitter spacetime is dual to thermalization of a conformal field theory on a compact space, whether generic initial data is stable or unstable against gravitational collapse is of great interest. We argue that all the known stable initial data for massless scalars are dominated by single scalar eigenmodes, specifically providing strong numerical evidence consistent with the interpretation that initial data with equal energies in two modes collapse on time scales of order the inverse square of the amplitude. We further scan the parameter space for massiv…
We analytically investigate the quasinormal modes of the massive scalar field with a nonminimal coupling in the higher-dimensional de Sitter black hole with a single rotation. According to the separated scalar field equation, the boundary conditions of quasinormal modes are well constructed at the outer and cosmological horizons. Then, under near-extremal conditions, where the outer horizon closes to the cosmological horizon, the quasinormal frequencies are obtained and generalized to universal form in the higher-dimensional spacetime. Here, the real part of the frequency includes the scalar f…
In this paper, by taking de Sitter space-time as a thermodynamic system, we study the equivalent thermodynamic quantities of de Sitter black hole in massive gravity, and furthermore obtain the equivalent thermodynamic quantities of the space-time. Our results show that the entropy of this type of space-time takes the same form as that in Reissner-Nordstrom-de Sitter space-time, which lays a solid foundation for deeply understanding the universal thermodynamic characteristics of de Sitter space-time in the future. Moreover, our analysis indicates that the equivalent thermodynamic quantities and…
We discuss non-perturbative dynamics of massive gravity in de Sitter space via gravitational Higgs mechanism. We argue that enhanced local symmetry and null (ghost) state at (below) the perturbative Higuchi bound are mere artifacts of not only linearization but also assuming the Fierz-Pauli mass term. We point out that, besides de Sitter, there are vacuum solutions where the space asymptotically is de Sitter both in the past and in the future, the space first contracts, this contraction slows down, and then reverses into expansion, so there is an epoch where the space appears to be (nearly) fl…
We consider asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes in three-dimensional topologically massive gravity with a negative cosmological constant, for all values of the mass parameter $μ$ ($μ\neq0$). We provide consistent boundary conditions that accommodate the recent solutions considered in the literature, which may have a slower fall-off than the one relevant for General Relativity. These conditions are such that the asymptotic symmetry is in all cases the conformal group, in the sense that they are invariant under asymptotic conformal transformations and that the corresponding Virasoro generat…
We show that a massive scalar field on a 2-dimensional Anti-De Sitter space can be mapped by means of a time-dependent canonical transformation into a massless free field theory when the mass square of the field is equal to minus the curvature of the background metric. We also provide the (hidden) conformal symmetry of the massive scalar field.
We construct de Sitter branes in a flat bulk of massive gravity in $5D$. We find two branches of solutions, reminiscent of the normal and self-accelerating branches in DGP, but with rather different properties. Neither branch has a self-accelerating limit: the background geometry requires having a nonvanishing tension. On the other hand, on both branches there are sub-branches where the leading order contributions of the tension to the curvature cancel. In these cases it turns out that larger tensions curve the background less. Further, both branches support a localized $4D$ massless graviton …
We study top-down embeddings of massive Anti-de Sitter (AdS) gravity in type-IIB string theory. The supergravity solutions have a AdS$_4$ fiber warped over a manifold M$_6$ whose shape resembles that of scottish bagpipes: The `bag' is a conventional AdS$_4$-compactification manifold, while the `pipes' are highly-curved semi-infinite Janus throats. Besides streamlining previous discussions of the problem, our main new result is a formula for the graviton mass which only depends on the effective gravitational coupling of the bag, and on the D3-brane charges and dilaton jumps of the Janus throats…
We consider three dimensional gravity with a positive cosmological constant and non- zero gravitational Chern-Simons term. This theory has inflating de Sitter solutions and local metric degrees of freedom. The Euclidean signature partition function of the theory is evaluated including both perturbative and non-perturbative corrections. The perturbative one-loop correction is computed using heat kernel techniques. The non- perturbative corrections come from gravitational instantons with non-trivial topology which can be enumerated explicitly. We compute the sum over an infinite class of ge- ome…
We reformulate free equations of motion for massive spin 0 and spin 1/2 matter fields in 2+1 dimensional anti-de Sitter space in the form of some covariant constantness conditions. The infinite-dimensional representation of the anti-de Sitter algebra underlying this formulation is shown to admit a natural realization in terms of the algebra of deformed oscillators with a deformation parameter related to the parameter of mass.
We use the superspace formulation of (massive) IIA supergravity to obtain the explicit form of the dilatino terms, and we find that the quartic-dilatino term is positive. The theory admits a ten-dimensional de Sitter solution, obtained by assuming a nonvanishing quartic-dilatino condensate which generates a positive cosmological constant. Moreover, in the presence of dilatino condensates, the theory admits formal four-dimensional de Sitter solutions of the form $dS_4\times M_6$, where $M_6$ is a six-dimensional Kähler-Einstein manifold of positive scalar curvature.
An interpretation to the physics of stable geodesics of massive particles in black hole backgrounds has been recently proposed in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence. It was argued that the existence of stable orbits indicates that the dual state does not thermalize on a thermal time scale and the bulk excitations can be interpreted as metastable states in the dual field theory. Here we study motion of massive particles in the background of the D-dimensional asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) black holes in the Einstein-Lovelock theory. We show that, unlike the asymptotically flat case,…
We present a simple procedure to obtain all de Sitter solutions in the ghost-free massive gravity theory by using the Gordon ansatz. For these solutions the physical metric can be conveniently viewed as describing a hyperboloid in 5D Minkowski space, while the flat reference metric depends on the Stuckelberg field $T(t,r)$ that satisfies the equation $(\partial_t{T})^2-(\partial_r T)^2=1$. This equation has infinitely many solutions, hence there are infinitely many de Sitter vacua with different physical properties. Only the simplest solution with $T=t$ has been previously studied since it is …
In this letter we point out that the massive gravity theory with a graviton ghost mode in de Sitter background cannot possess a de Sitter invariant vacuum state. In order to avoid a negative norm state, we must associate the creation operator of the ghost mode with a negative-energy mode function instead of a positive-energy one as the mode function. Namely, we have to adopt a different procedure of quantization for a ghost. When a theory has a symmetry mixing a ghost mode with ordinary non-ghost modes, the choice of a ghost mode is not unique. However, quantization of a ghost is impossible wi…
We report here on two works on Lorentz invariant massive gravity. In the first part, we derive the decoupling limit of massive gravity on de Sitter, relying on embedding de Sitter into an higher dimensional Minkowski spacetime. This enables us to identify the unique candidate for a partially massless gravity theory, in which only four degrees of freedom propagate, although further work showed that this property does not hold beyond the decoupling limit. In the second part, we study the fate of the Vainshtein mechanism in the minimal model of massive gravity, in which we show the limits of the …
We investigate the tendency in variations of the dual CFT$_2$ when a rotating AdS$_3$ black hole changes by fluxes transferred by the scattering of a massive scalar field according to the AdS/CFT correspondence. The conserved quantities of the black hole are definitely constrained by the extremal condition. Moreover, the laws of thermodynamics provide a direction for the changes in the conserved quantities, so the black hole cannot be extremal under the scattering. This is naturally preferred. By the relationship between the rotating AdS$_3$ black hole and dual CFT$_2$, we find that such chang…
This study investigates the stability of higher-dimensional singly rotating Myers-Perry-de Sitter (MP-dS) black holes against scalar field perturbations. The phase spaces of MP-dS black holes with one spin parameter are discussed. Additionally, the quasinormal modes (QNMs) of MP-dS black holes are calculated via the asymptotic iteration method and sixth-order Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approximation. For near-extremal MP-dS black holes, the event horizon may be considerably close to the cosmological horizon. In such cases, the Pöschl-Teller technique yields an accurate analytic formula for the …
Gravitational collapse in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetime has a rich but poorly-understood structure. There are strong indications that some families of initial data form "bound" states, which are regular everywhere, while other families seem to always collapse to black holes. Here, we investigate the collapse of massive scalar fields in anti-de Sitter, with enlarged freedom in the initial data setup, such as several distinct wavepackets, gravitationally interacting with each other. Our results are fully consistent with previous findings in the literature: massive fields, which have a …
For certain classes of space(time)s embeddable in a higher dimensional flat space(time), it appears possible to compute the minimally coupled massless scalar Green's function in the former by convolving its cousin in the latter with an appropriate scalar charge density. The physical interpretation is that beings residing in the higher dimensional flat space(time) may set up sources to fool the observer confined on the lower dimensional curved submanifold that she is detecting the field generated by a space(time) point source in her own world. In this paper we extend the general formula to incl…
Asymptotically warped AdS spacetimes in topologically massive gravity with negative cosmological constant are considered in the case of spacelike stretched warping, where black holes have been shown to exist. We provide a set of asymptotic conditions that accommodate solutions in which the local degree of freedom (the "massive graviton") is switched on. An exact solution with this property is explicitly exhibited and possesses a slower fall-off than the warped AdS black hole. The boundary conditions are invariant under the semidirect product of the Virasoro algebra with a u(1) current algebra.…
We study conformally-coupled massive scalar field theory with the mass term treated as a perturbation in the expanding half of de Sitter spacetime as a toy model for comparing various perturbative formalisms. We point out that the in-out perturbation theory breaks down due to infrared divergences coming from the infinite future. We then clarify the relation between the free-theory vacuum and the true vacuum using the Bogolubov transformation and show that the discrepancy between the free-theory out-vacuum and the true vacuum causes apparent pair creation of free-theory particles and makes the …
Starting from a Dirac equation for massless neutrino in a 5D Ricci-flat background metric, we obtain the effective 4D equation for massive neutrino in a Schwarzschild-de Sitter (SdS) background metric from an extended SdS 5D Ricci-flat metric. We use the fact that the spin connection is defined to an accuracy of a vector, so that the covariant derivative of the spinor field is strongly dependent of the background geometry. We show that the mass of the neutrino can be induced from the extra space-like dimension.
We study particle decay in de Sitter space-time as given by first order perturbation theory in an interacting quantum field theory. We show that for fields with masses above a critical mass $m_c$ there is no such thing as particle stability, so that decays forbidden in flat space-time do occur there. The lifetime of such a particle also turns out to be independent of its velocity when that lifetime is comparable with de Sitter radius. Particles with lower mass are even stranger: The masses of their decay products must obey quantification rules, and their lifetime is zero.
