{
  "id": "hep-th/0607239",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2006-07-29T18:13:47.000Z",
  "updated": "2006-07-29T18:13:47.000Z",
  "title": "Topics in particle physics and cosmology beyond the standard model",
  "authors": [
    "Alejandro Jenkins"
  ],
  "comment": "Caltech PhD thesis, defended 26 May 2006, advisor: Mark B. Wise; 124 pages, 23 figures, 2 tables; uses new_cit_thesis.cls (included) and FeynMF",
  "categories": [
    "hep-th",
    "gr-qc",
    "hep-ph",
    "physics.flu-dyn"
  ],
  "abstract": "We review the interpretation of gauge invariance as a mathematical redundancy required in a relativistic description of forces mediated by massless spin-1 and spin-2 particles. In this context we also review the Weinberg-Witten theorem and its implications. This leads us to consider a class of models in which long-range interactions are mediated by Goldstone bosons of spontaneous Lorentz violation. Since the Lorentz symmetry is realized non-linearly in the Goldstones, these models could evade the Weinberg-Witten theorem and the need for gauge invariance. In the case of gravity, the broken symmetry would protect the theory from having non-zero cosmological constant, while the compositeness of the graviton could provide a solution to the perturbative non-renormalizability of gravity. We also consider the phenomenology of spontaneous Lorentz violation by a vector VEV and the experimental limits thereon. We find the general low-energy effective action of the Goldstones of this kind of symmetry breaking minimally coupled to gravity. We compare this to the ghost condensate that has been proposed as a model for gravity in a Higgs phase. We then summarize the cosmological constant problems and show that models in which a scalar field causes super-acceleration of the universe generally exhibit instabilities. We discuss how the equation of state evolves in a universe where the dark energy is caused by the ghost condensate. We comment on the anthropic argument for a small cosmological constant and how it is weakened if the inflaton self-coupling varies over the landscape of possible universes. Finally, we discuss the reverse sprinkler, a problem in elementary fluid mechanics that had eluded a definitive treatment for decades.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2006-07-29T18:13:47.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "standard model",
      "particle physics",
      "cosmological constant",
      "spontaneous lorentz violation",
      "gauge invariance"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "dissertation"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "journal": "Ph.D. Thesis",
      "year": 2006,
      "month": "Jul"
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 124,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "inspire": 722741,
      "adsabs": "2006PhDT.......131J"
    }
  }
}