An embedding of a unified dark sector model into string theory with the following features is proposed: The model-independent axion descending from the Kalb-Ramond 2-form field is identified with the dark-matter field, and the real part of a Kähler modulus field -- the ``radius'' of one of the extra spatial dimensions -- accounts for dark energy. The expectation value of the dilaton field is stabilized by a gaugino condensation mechanism. A dark-energy potential corresponding to a realistic low energy scale results from some gentle tuning of the stabilized expectation value of the dilaton. The resulting potential reproduces the one in a previous dark-sector model proposed by two of us.
Based on perturbation theory, we study the dynamics of how dark matter and dark energy in the collapsing system approach dynamical equilibrium while interacting. We find that the interaction between dark sectors cannot ensure the dark energy to fully cluster along with dark, leading to the energy non-conservation problem in the collapsing system We examine the cluster number counts dependence on the interaction between dark sectors. Furthermore, we analyze how dark energy inhomogeneities affect cluster abundances. It is shown that cluster number counts can provide specific signature of dark se…
I present some new perspectives on Dark Matter, Dark Energy and the origin of structure in the Universe. First, I argue that in order to understand the two latter issues, one needs to go beyond a standard point particle effective field theory analysis. Next, I review recent work attempting to construct a unified dark sector model from Heterotic superstring theory. I finish by discussing a new research effort to obtain early Universe cosmology directly from a non-perturbative definition of superstring theory.
There is no unique way to describe the dark energy-dark matter interaction, as we have little information about the nature and dynamics of the dark sector. Hence, in many of the phenomenological dark matter fluid interaction models in the literature, the interaction strength $Q_ν$ in the dark sector is introduced by hand. Demanding that the interaction strength $Q_ν$ in the dark sector must have a field theory description, we obtain a unique form of interaction strength. We show the equivalence between the fields and fluids for the $f(R,χ)$ model where $f$ is an arbitrary, smooth function of $…
Dark energy in General Relativity is typically non-interacting with other matter. However, it is possible that the dark energy interacts with the dark matter, and in this case, the dark matter can violate the universality of free fall (the weak equivalence principle). We show that some forms of the dark sector interaction do not violate weak equivalence. For those interactions that do violate weak equivalence, there are no available laboratory experiments to probe this violation for dark matter. But cosmology provides a test for violations of the equivalence principle between dark matter and b…
We investigate the impact on the classical dynamics of dark matter particles and dark energy of a non-minimal coupling in the dark sector, assuming that the mass of the dark matter particles is coupled to a dark energy scalar field. We show that standard results can only be recovered if the space-time variation of the dark energy scalar field is sufficiently smooth on the characteristic length scale of the dark matter particles, and we determine the associated constraint dependent on both the mass and radius of the dark matter particles and the coupling to the dark energy scalar field. We furt…
We present a general formalism to study the growth of dark matter perturbations when dark energy perturbations and interactions between dark sectors are present. We show that dynamical stability of the growth of structure depends on the type of coupling between dark sectors. By taking the appropriate coupling to ensure the stable growth of structure, we observe that the effect of the dark sectors' interaction overwhelms that of dark energy perturbation on the growth function of dark matter perturbation. Due to the influence of the interaction, the growth index can differ from the value without…
In hidden sector models with an extra U(1) gauge group, new fields can interact with the Standard Model only through gauge kinetic mixing and the Higgs portal. After the U(1) is spontaneously broken, these interactions couple the resultant cosmic strings to Standard Model particles. We calculate the spectrum of radiation emitted by these "dark strings" in the form of Higgs bosons, Z bosons, and Standard Model fermions assuming that string tension is above the TeV scale. We also calculate the scattering cross sections of Standard Model fermions on dark strings due to the Aharonov-Bohm interacti…
Perfect fluids are modeled by using an effective field theory approach which naturally gives a self-consistent and unambiguous description of the intrinsic non-adiabatic contribution to pressure variations. We study the impact of intrinsic entropy perturbation on the superhorizon dynamics of the curvature perturbation ${\cal R}$ in the dark sector. The dark sector, made of dark matter and dark energy is described as a single perfect fluid. The non-perturbative vorticity's dynamics and the Weinberg theorem violation for perfect fluids are also studied.
We introduce darkons as fluid particles of a Galilean massless self-gravitating fluid. This fluid exhibits anisotropic scaling with $z=5/3$. The minimal gravitational coupling dynamically generates a gravitational mass density of either sign. Hence such fluid may serve as a model for the dark sector of the Universe. Its cosmological solutions give a deceleration phase for the early Universe and an acceleration phase for the late Universe. Will the steady flow solutions lead to a confining potential and so a possible model for halos?
Dark sectors with purely gravitational couplings to the Standard Model are unavoidably populated from the SM plasma by graviton exchange, and naturally provide DM candidates. We examine the production in the relativistic regime where the dark sector is approximately scale invariant, providing general analytical formulas that depend solely on the central charge of the dark sector. We then assess the relevance of interactions that can lead to a variety of phenomena including thermalisation, nonperturbative mass gaps, out-of-equilibrium phase transitions and cannibalism in the dark sector. As an …
Interactions inside the cosmological dark sector influence the cosmological dynamics. As a consequence, the future evolution of the Universe may be different from that predicted by the $Λ$CDM model. We review main features of several recently studied models with nongravitational couplings between dark matter and dark energy.
Recent astrophysical observations have motivated novel theoretical models of the dark matter sector. A class of such models predicts the existence of GeV scale cosmic strings that communicate with the standard model sector by Aharonov-Bohm interactions with electrically charged particles. We discuss the cosmology of these "dark strings" and investigate possible observational signatures. More elaborate dark sector models are argued to contain hybrid topological defects that may also have observational signatures.
We investigate the properties of a dark matter sector where supersymmetry is a good symmetry. In this context we find that the stability of the dark matter candidate is possible even when R-parity is broken in the visible sector. In order to illustrate the idea we investigate a simple scenario where the dark matter candidate is the lightest scalar field in the dark sector which annihilates mainly into two sfermions when these channels are available. We study the relic density constraints and the predictions for the dark matter detection experiments.
D3-brane probes of E-type Yukawa points lead to strongly coupled nearly conformal sectors nearby the Standard Model (visible sector) which are motivated by F-theory GUTs. Realistic visible sector brane configurations induce a seesaw mass hierarchy in the hidden sector with light GUT singlets charged under a strongly coupled hidden sector U(1). Interpreting these GUT singlets as dark matter, this leads to a matter genesis scenario where the freeze out and subsequent decay of heavy mediators between the two sectors simultaneously populates comparable amounts of baryon and dark matter asymmetry. …
In a previous paper it was shown that a minimally coupled scalar field of mass $M \sim H_0$ can describe both components of the dark sector in a unified way. In the solution found, the dark energy component decays linearly with the Hubble parameter, with a homogeneous creation of dark matter. In the present note we show that a $Λ$CDM dark sector can also be modeled by such a single field. More generally, we show that the system of Klein-Gordon and Einstein equations admits a uniparametric family of solutions that is equivalent to a non-adiabatic (with zero sound speed) generalised Chaplygin ga…
Hot new early dark energy describes a supercooled, first-order phase transition that takes place at sub-eV temperatures in the dark sector. It lowers the sound horizon, which provides a possible solution to the Hubble tension, and, at the same time, it can explain the neutrino masses through the inverse seesaw mechanism by making a set of sterile Majorana fermions massive. First, we argue that this scenario strengthens existing cosmological bounds on the heaviest neutrino mass. This, in turn, constrains the dark sector temperature, which provides us in total with two falsifiable predictions. I…
We examine the conformal equivalence between the $f(R)$ gravity and the interacting dark sector model. We review the well-known result that the conformal transformation physically corresponds to the mass dilation which marks the strength of interaction between dark sectors. Instead of modeling f(R) gravity in the Jordan frame, we construct the $f(R)$ gravity in terms of mass dilation function in the Einstein frame. We find that the condition to keep $f(R)$ gravity consistent with CMB observations ensures the energy flow from dark energy to dark matter in the corresponding interacting model, wh…
In general, non-minimal models of the dark sector such as Dynamical Dark Matter posit the existence of an ensemble of individual dark components with differing masses, cosmological abundances, and couplings to the Standard Model. Perhaps the most critical among these features is the spectrum of masses, as this goes a long way towards determining the cosmological abundances and lifetimes of the corresponding states. Many different underlying theoretical structures can be imagined for the dark sector, each giving rise to its own mass spectrum and corresponding density of states. In this paper, b…
Light moduli fields in string compactifications can have interesting implications for particle physics and cosmology. Fifth force bounds impose stringent constraints on the interactions of such moduli with the visible sector. To be consistent with the bounds, they need to be part of hidden sectors which interact with the Standard Model with weaker-than-Planck suppressed interactions. We consider scenarios in which the visible sector degrees of freedom are localised in the compactification and light moduli arise as closed string degrees of freedom associated with hidden sectors which are geomet…
Is Dark Matter part of a Dark Sector? The possibility of a dark sector neutral under Standard Model (SM) forces furnishes an attractive explanation for the existence of Dark Matter (DM), and is a compelling new-physics direction to explore in its own right, with potential relevance to fundamental questions as varied as neutrino masses, the hierarchy problem, and the Universe's matter-antimatter asymmetry. Because dark sectors are generically weakly coupled to ordinary matter, and because they can naturally have MeV-to-GeV masses and respect the symmetries of the SM, they are only mildly constr…
We discuss the implications for gamma ray burst studies, of a dark unbroken $U(1)_D$ sector that couples predominantly through gravity to the visible sector. The dominant dark matter component remains neutral under $U(1)_D$. The collapsar model is assumed to explain the origin of long gamma ray bursts. The main idea is that by measuring the change in stellar black hole spin during the duration of the GRB, one can make inferences about the existence of a dark matter accretion disk. This could potentially provide evidence for the existence for a $U(1)_D$ sector.
We construct a class of quadratic gauge invariant actions for extended string fields defined on the tensor product of open superstring state space for multiple open string Neveu-Schwarz (NS) sectors with or without one Ramond (R) sector. The basic idea is the same as for the bosonic extended string field theory developed by the authors [arXiv:1309.3850]. The theory for NS^n sector and NS^{n-1}-R sector contains general n-th rank tensor fields and (n-1)-th rank spinor-tensor fields in the massless spectrum respectively. In principle, consistent gauge invariant actions for any generic type of 10…
We study the ghost sector of vacuum string field theory where the BRST operator Q is given by the midpoint insertion proposed by Gaiotto, Rastelli, Sen and Zwiebach. We introduce a convenient basis of half-string modes in terms of which Q takes a particularly simple form. We show that there exists a field redefinition which reduces the ghost sector field equation to a pure projection equation for string fields satisfying the constraint that the ghost number is equally divided over the left- and right halves of the string. When this constraint is imposed, vacuum string field theory can be refor…
The variational method for Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue problem was employed to study analytically properties of the holographic superconductor with dark matter sector, in which a coupling between Maxwell field and another U(1)-gauge field was considered. The backreaction of the dark matter sector on gravitational background in question was also examined.
Including world-sheet orientation-reversing automorphisms in the orbifold program, we recently reported the twisted operator algebra and twisted KZ equations in each open-string sector of the general WZW orientation orbifold. In this paper we work out the corresponding classical description of these sectors, including the {\it WZW orientation-orbifold action} -- which is naturally defined on the solid half cylinder -- and its associated WZW orientation-orbifold branes. As a generalization, we also obtain the {\it sigma-model orientation-orbifold action}, which describes a much larger class of …
We quantize the bosonic part of the D1 string with closed boundary conditions on the light cone and we consider the U(1) worldsheet gauge field a dynamical variable. We compute also 3-Reggeon vertex by the overlapping technique. We find that the Fock space is the sum of sectors characterized by the momentum of the U(1) Wilson line and that these sectors do not interact among them. Each sector has exactly the same spectrum of the usual bosonic string when expressed in properly sector dependent rescaled variables. Rescaling is forced by factorization of the string amplitudes. We are also able to…
By analysing the cosmological dynamical system with a dark-sector interaction which changes sign during the cosmological evolution, we find a scaling attractor to help to alleviate the cosmic-coincidence problem. This result shows that this interaction can bring new features to the cosmology.
We describe local Calabi-Yau geometries with two isolated singularities at which systems of D3- and D7-branes are located, leading to chiral sectors corresponding to a semi-realistic visible sector and a hidden sector with dynamical supersymmetry breaking. We provide explicit models with a 3-family MSSM-like visible sector, and a hidden sector breaking supersymmetry at a meta-stable minimum. For singularities separated by a distance smaller than the string scale, this construction leads to a simple realization of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking in string theory. The models are simple eno…
We review the case for light U(1) gauge bosons in the hidden-sector of heterotic and type II string compactifications, present estimates of the size of their kinetic mixing with the visible-sector hypercharge U(1), and discuss their possibly very interesting phenomenological consequences in particle physics and cosmology.
We perform post Newtonian analysis of Double Field Theory as a test of string theory in gravitational sector against observations. We identify the Eddington--Robertson--Schiff parameters $β_{\rm{PPN}}$, $γ_{\rm{PPN}}$ with the charges of electric $H$-flux and dilaton respectively, and further relate them to stress-energy tensor. We show ${β_{\rm{PPN}}=1}$ from weak energy condition and argue that the observation of $γ_{\rm{PPN}}\simeq 1$ signifies the ultrarelativistic equation of state in baryons, or the suppression of gluon condensate.
We study well-motivated dark matter candidates arising from weakly-coupled hidden sectors in compactified string/$M$-theory. Imposing generic top-down constraints greatly restricts allowed candidates. By considering the possible mechanisms for achieving the correct dark matter relic density, we compile categories of viable dark matter candidates and annihilation mediators. We consider the case where supersymmetry breaking occurs via moduli stabilisation and is gravitationally mediated to the visible and other hidden sectors, without assuming sequestering of the sector in which supersymmetry is…
We consider candidates for dark matter in models of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, in which the supersymmetry breaking sector is weakly coupled and calculable. Such models typically contain classically flat directions, that receive one-loop masses of a few TeV. These pseudo-flat directions provide a new mechanism to account for the cold dark matter relic abundance. We discuss also the possibility of heavy gravitino dark matter in such models.
We study string interactions among string states with arbitrary impurities in the Type IIB plane wave background using string field theory. We reproduce all string amplitudes from gauge theory by computing matrix elements of the dilatation operator in a previously proposed basis of states. A direct correspondence is found between the string field theory and gauge theory Feynman diagrams.
Four-dimensional compactifications of string theory provide a controlled set of possible gauge representations accounting for BSM particles and dark sector components. In this review, constraints from perturbative Type II string compactifications in the geometric regime are discussed in detail and then compared to results from heterotic string compactifications and non-perturbative/non-geometric corners. As a prominent example, an open string realization of the QCD axion is presented. The status of deriving the associated low-energy effective action in four dimensions is discussed and open ave…
Dark strings have recently been suggested to exist in new models of dark matter that explain the excessive electronic production in the galaxy. We study the interaction of these dark strings with semilocal strings which are solutions of the bosonic sector of the Standard Model in the limit $\sin^2θ_{\rm w}=1$, where $θ_{\rm w}$ is the Weinberg angle. While embedded Abelian-Higgs strings exist for generic values of the coupling constants, we show that semilocal solutions with non-vanishing condensate inside the string core exist only above a critical value of the Higgs to gauge boson mass ratio…
The sectorized description of the (chiral) heterotic string using pure spinors has been misleadingly viewed as an infinite tension string. One evidence for this fact comes from the tree level 3-point graviton amplitude, which we show to contain the usual Einstein term plus a higher curvature contribution. After reintroducing a dimensionful parameter $\ell$ in the theory, we demonstrate that the heterotic model is in fact two-fold, depending on the choice of the supersymmetric sector, and that the spectrum also contains one massive (open string like) multiplet. By taking the $\ell\to\infty$ lim…
We point out that the moduli sector of the $(2,2)$ string compactification with its nonperturbatively preserved non-compact symmetries is a fertile framework to study global topological defects, thus providing a natural source for the large scale structure formation. Based on the target space modular invariance of the nonperturbative superpotential of the four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric string vacua, topologically stable stringy domain walls are found. They are supersymmetric solutions, thus saturating the Bogomolnyi bound. It is also shown that there are moduli sectors that allow for the …
We consider the production of asymmetric dark matter during hidden sector baryogenesis. We consider a particular supersymmetric model where the dark matter candidate has a number density approximately equal to the baryon number density, with a mass of the same scale as the $b$, $c$ and $τ$. Both baryon asymmetry and dark matter are created at the same time in this model. We describe collider and direct detection signatures of this model.
The {\it dark matter} seem to be an inevitable ingredient of the total matter configuration in the Universe and the knowledge how the {\it dark matter} affects the properties of superconductors is of vital importance for the experiments aimed at its direct detection. The homogeneous magnetic field acting perpendicularly to the surface of (2+1) dimensional s-wave holographic superconductor in the theory with {\it dark matter} sector has been modeled by the additional $U(1)$-gauge field representing dark matter and coupled to the Maxwell one. As expected the free energy for the vortex configurat…
We make a further step in the analytically exact quantization of spinning string states in semiclassical approximation, by evaluating the exact one-loop partition function for a class of two-spin string solutions for which quadratic fluctuations form a non-trivial system of coupled modes. This is the case of a folded string in the $SU(2)$ sector, in the limit described by a quantum Landau-Lifshitz model. The same applies to the full bosonic sector of fluctuations over the folded spinning string in $AdS_5$ with an angular momentum $J$ in $S^5$. Fluctuations are governed by a special class of fo…
Angular momentum and mass-charge inequalities for axisymmetric maximal time-symmetric initial data in Einstein-Maxwell gravity with dark matter sector were derived. The dark matter sector is mimicked by another U(1)-gauge field coupled to the ordinary Maxwell one. We assume that data set with two asymptotically flat regions is given on smooth simply connected manifold. One also pays attention to the area momentum charge inequalities for a closed orientable two-dimensional spacelike surface embedded in the spacetime of the considered theory. It turned out that the addition of dark matter sector…
Closed string tachyon emission from a traveling long string in Liouville string theory is studied. The exact collective field Hamiltonian in the adjoint sector of the c=1 matrix model is computed to capture the interaction between the tip of the long string and the closed string tachyon field. The amplitude for emission of a single tachyon quantum is obtained in a closed form using the chiral formalism.
We extend the analysis of arXiv:1009.2624, which constructed the non-linear realisation of the semi-direct product of E11 and the l1 representation at level zero, to level one. Thus we add to the previously considered NS-NS fields those of the R-R sector.
Examining the symmetries of the pseudo-action, we propose a prescription for the new Feynman rules for the Ramond sector of the WZW-like heterotic string field theory. The new rules are an analog of that recently proposed for the open superstring field theory and respect all the gauge symmetries including those provided we impose the constraint after transformation. It is shown that the new rules reproduce the well-known on-shell tree-level amplitudes for four and five external strings including fermions.
We study the Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond (NSR) open super-string theory in the proper-time gauge. The string field action is obtained by evaluating the Polyakov string path integral. In this study, we focus on the open-string free-field action, which corresponds to the string path integral on a strip. Depending on the periodicity of the fermion fields, the open super-string has two sectors: The Neveu-Schwarz (NS) and Ramond (R) sectors. We can impose the gauge conditions to fix the (super-) reparametrization invariance on the two-dimensional metric and its super-partner on the string world sheet to s…
We compute at one loop the two-point functions of massless scalars in the Neumann-Dirichlet open-string sector of the type IIB orientifold compactified on $T^2\times T^4/\mathbb{Z}_2$, when $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry is spontaneously broken. This is done by evaluating correlation functions of ``boundary-changing vertex operators'' which are analogous to correlators of twist fields for closed strings. We use our results to compute the mass developed at one loop by the moduli fields arising in the Neumann-Dirichlet sector.
We find classical closed string solutions to the non-relativistic AdS$_5\times$S$^5$ string theory which are the analogue of the BMN and GKP solutions for the relativistic theory. We show that non-relativistic AdS$_5\times$S$^5$ string theory admits a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ orbifold symmetry which allows us to impose twisted boundary conditions. Among the solutions in the twisted sector, we find the one around which the semiclassical expansion in arXiv:2102.00008 takes place.
Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Chicago（芝加哥大学莱因韦伯理论物理研究所）；EPFL（洛桑联邦理工学院）；Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard University（哈佛大学杰斐逊物理实验室）
We introduce a uniform light-cone gauge for strings propagating in AdS space-time. We use the gauge to analyze strings from the su(1|1) sector, and show that the reduced model is described by a quadratic action for two complex fermions. Thus, the uniform light-cone gauge allows us to solve the model exactly. We analyze the near BMN spectrum of states from the su(1|1) sector and show that it correctly reproduces the 1/J corrections. We also compute the spectrum in the strong coupling limit, and derive the famous λ^{1/4} asymptotics. We then show that the same string spectrum can be also derived…
We study the minimal supersymmetric standard model derived from the $Z_8$ orbifold models and its hidden sectors. We use a target-space duality anomaly cancellation so as to investigate hidden sectors consistent with the MSSM unification. For the allowed hidden sectors, we estimate the running gauge coupling constants making use of threshold corrections due to the higher massive modes. The calculation is important from the viewpoint of gaugino condensations, which is one of the most promissing mechanism to break the supersymmetry.
We consider a wrapped supermembrane on $\R^9\times T^2$. We examine a double dimensional reduction to deduce a $(p,q)$-string in type IIB superstring theory from the wrapped supermembrane. In particular, directly from the wrapped supermembrane action, we explicitly derive the action of a string which carries the RR 2-form charge as well as the NSNS 2-form charge, and the tension of the string agrees with the $(p,q)$-string tension.
Vacuum magnetic birefringence (VMB) is a nonlinear electromagnetic effect predicted by QED. In addition to the effect from QED, the effect also has a possibility to probe the dark sector. The effect predicted by QED is parity conservative, but the effect from the dark sector can induce parity violation. To pursue this possibility, we calculated the effect from the dark sector with the generalized Heisenberg-Euler effective Lagrangian that is applicable to parity-violating theories. Various dark sector models exist, among which the contribution of the dark sector neutrinos to the VMB experiment…
In this paper we investigate complex solutions of the Bethe equations in the two-particle sector both for arbitrary finite number of sites and for the thermodynamic limit . We find the number of complex solutions (strings) and compare it with the string conjecture prediction. Some simple properties of these solutions like position in the spectrum, crossing of levels, connection to the ground state and transformation to the real solutions are discussed. Counting both real and complex solutions we find expected number of highest weight Bethe states.
We consider perturbations in a cosmological model with a small coupling between dark energy and dark matter. We prove that the stability of the curvature perturbation depends on the type of coupling between dark sectors. When the dark energy is of quintessence type, if the coupling is proportional to the dark matter energy density, it will drive the instability in the curvature perturbations; however if the coupling is proportional to the energy density of dark energy, there is room for the stability in the curvature perturbations. When the dark energy is of phantom type, the perturbations are…
