Ricci dark energy in Chern–Simons modified gravity

In this work, we have considered the Ricci dark energy model, where the energy density of the universe is proportional to the Ricci scalar curvature, in the dynamic Chern–Simons modified gravity. We show that in this context the evolution of the scale factor is similar to that displayed by the modified Chaplygin gas.     

Dark energy interacting with dark matter in classical Einstein and loop quantum cosmology

The cosmological model of dark energy interacting with cold dark matter without coupling to the baryonic matter is studied in the background of both classical Einstein and loop quantum cosmology. We consider two types of interacting models. In the former model, the interaction is a linear combination of the densities of two dark sectors, while in the latter model, the interaction with a constant transfer rate depends only on the density of cold dark matter. It is shown that the dynamical results in loop quantum cosmology are different from those in classical Einstein cosmology for both of the two kinds of interacting models. Moreover, the form of the interaction significantly affects the dynamical results in both kinds of cosmology.     

Dark viscous fluid coupled with dark matter and future singularity

Motivated by Kerner and Man’s fermions tunneling method of dimension 4 black holes, in this paper, we further improve the analysis to investigate Hawking radiation of charged Dirac particles with spin 1/2 from general non-extremal rotating charged black holes with two parameters and a non-zero cosmological constant in minimal five-dimensional gauged supergravity. For space-times with different horizon topology and different dimensions, constructing a set of appropriate γ ^μ matrices for general covariant Dirac equation is an important technique for the fermion tunneling method. By introducing a set of appropriate matrices γ ^μ and employing the ansatz for the spin-up spinor field, we successfully recovered the tunneling probability of charged Dirac particles and the expected Hawking temperature of the black hole, which is exactly consistent with that obtained by other methods. Moreover, the fermion tunneling method can be directly applied to the other five-dimensional charged black holes, which strengthens the validity and power of the fermion tunneling method.     

Kaluza–Klein cosmology with modified holographic dark energy

We investigate the compact Kaluza–Klein cosmology in which modified holographic dark energy is interacting with dark matter. Using this scenario, we evaluate equation of state parameter as well as equation of evolution of the modified holographic dark energy. Further, it is shown that the generalized second law of thermodynamics holds without any constraint.     

Sandage–Loeb test for the new agegraphic and Ricci dark energy models

The Sandage–Loeb (SL) test is a unique method to explore dark energy at the “redshift desert” (2?z?5$2?z?5$), an era not covered by any other dark energy probes, by directly measuring the temporal variation of the redshift of quasar (QSO) Lyman-α absorption lines. In this Letter, we study the prospects for constraining the new agegraphic dark energy (NADE) model and the Ricci dark energy (RDE) model with the SL test. We show that, assuming only a ten-year survey, the SL test can constrain these two models with high significance.     

Ricci dark energy in braneworld models with a Gauss–Bonnet term in the bulk

We investigate the Ricci Dark Energy (RDE) in the braneworld models with a Gauss–Bonnet term in the Bulk. We analytically solve the generalized Friedmann equation on the brane and find that the universe will finally enter into a pure de Sitter spacetime in stead of the big rip that appears in the usual 4D Ricci dark energy model with parameter α<1/2$\alpha <1/2$. We also consider the Hubble horizon as the IR cutoff in holographic dark energy model and find it cannot accelerate the universe as in the usual case without interacting.     

Unified picture for Dirac neutrinos,dark matter,dark energy and matter–antimatter asymmetry

We propose a unified scenario to generate the masses of Dirac neutrinos and cold dark matter at the TeV scale, understand the origin of dark energy and explain the matter–antimatter asymmetry of the universe. This model can lead to significant impact on the Higgs searches at LHC.     

Running coupling: does the coupling between dark energy and dark matter change sign during the cosmological evolution?

In this paper we put forward a running coupling scenario for describing the interaction between dark energy and dark matter. The dark sector interaction in our scenario is free of the assumption that the interaction term Q is proportional to the Hubble expansion rate and the energy densities of dark sectors. We only use a time-variable coupling b(a) (with a the scale factor of the universe) to characterize the interaction Q. We propose a parametrization form for the running coupling b(a)=b ₀ a+b _e (1−a) in which the early-time coupling is given by a constant b _e , while today the coupling is given by another constant, b ₀. For investigating the feature of the running coupling, we employ three dark energy models, namely, the cosmological constant model (w=−1), the constant w model (w=w ₀), and the time-dependent w model (w(a)=w ₀+w ₁(1−a)). We constrain the models with the current observational data, including the type Ia supernova, the baryon acoustic oscillation, the cosmic microwave background, the Hubble expansion rate, and the X-ray gas mass fraction data. The fitting results indicate that a time-varying vacuum scenario is favored, in which the coupling b(z) crosses the noninteracting line (b=0) during the cosmological evolution and the sign changes from negative to positive. The crossing of the noninteracting line happens at around z=0.2–0.3, and the crossing behavior is favored at about 1σ confidence level. Our work implies that we should pay more attention to the time-varying vacuum model and seriously consider the phenomenological construction of a sign-changeable or oscillatory interaction between dark sectors.     

Discriminate spatial Ricci scalar dark energy from ΛCDM

Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy - We apply two geometrical diagnostics, the statefinder {s, r} and Om(x), to discriminate the Spatial Ricci scalar dark energy model from the...     

Search for Higgs bosons in SUSY cascades in CMS and dark matter with non-universal gaugino masses

In grand-unified theories (GUT), non-universal boundary conditions for the gaugino masses may arise at the unification scale and may affect the observability of the neutral MSSM Higgs bosons (h/H/A) at the LHC. The implications of such non-universal gaugino masses are investigated for Higgs boson production in the SUSY cascade decay chain , , , produced in pp interactions. In the singlet representation with universal gaugino masses only the light Higgs boson can be produced in this cascade with the parameter region of interest for us, while with non-universal gaugino masses heavy neutral MSSM Higgs boson production may dominate. The allowed parameter space in the light of the WMAP constraints on the cold dark-matter relic density is investigated in the above scenarios for gaugino mass parameters. We also demonstrate that combination of representations can give the required amount of dark matter in any point of the parameter space. In the non-universal case we show that heavy Higgs bosons can be detected in the cascade studied in parameter regions with the WMAP preferred neutralino relic density.     

Fine-tuning favors mixed axion/axino cold dark matter over neutralinos in the minimal supergravity model

Over almost all of minimal supergravity (mSUGRA or CMSSM) model parameter space, there is a large overabundance of neutralino cold dark matter (CDM). We find that the allowed regions of mSUGRA parameter space which match the measured abundance of CDM in the universe are highly fine-tuned. If instead we invoke the Peccei–Quinn–Weinberg–Wilczek solution to the strong CP problem, then the SUSY CDM may consist of an axion/axino admixture with an axino mass of order the MeV scale, and where mixed axion/axino or mainly axion CDM seems preferred. In this case, fine-tuning of the relic density is typically much lower, showing that axion/axino CDM ( $a\tilde{a}$ CDM) is to be preferred in the paradigm model for SUSY phenomenology. For mSUGRA with $a\tilde{a}$ CDM, quite different regions of parameter space are now DM-favored as compared to the case of neutralino DM. Thus, rather different SUSY signatures are expected at the LHC in the case of mSUGRA with $a\tilde{a}$ CDM, as compared to mSUGRA with neutralino CDM.     

Cosmological evolution of interacting dark energy in Lorentz violation

The cosmological evolution of an interacting scalar-field model in which the scalar field interacts with dark matter, radiation, and baryons via Lorentz violation is investigated. We propose a model of interaction through the effective coupling, [`(b)]\bar{\beta} . Using dynamical system analysis, we study the linear dynamics of an interacting model and show that the dynamics of critical points are completely controlled by two parameters. Some results can be mentioned as follows. Firstly, the sequence of radiation, the dark matter, and the scalar-field dark energy exist and baryons are subdominant. Secondly, the model also allows for the possibility of having a universe in the phantom phase with constant potential. Thirdly, the effective gravitational constant varies with respect to time through [`(b)]\bar{\beta} . In particular, we consider the simple case where [`(b)]\bar{\beta} has a quadratic form and has a good agreement with the modified ΛCDM and quintessence models. Finally, we also calculate the first post-Newtonian parameters for our model.     

Constraining self-interacting dark matter with the full dataset of PandaX-Ⅱ

Self-interacting dark matter(SIDM) is a leading candidate proposed to solve discrepancies between predictions of the prevailing cold dark matter theory and observations of galaxies. Many SIDM models predict the existence of a light force carrier that mediates strong dark matter self-interactions. If the mediator couples to the standard model particles, it could produce characteristic signals in dark matter direct detection experiments. We report searches for signals of SIDM models with a light mediator using the full dataset of the PandaX-Ⅱ experiment, basing on a total exposure of 132 tonne-days. No significant excess over background is found, and our likelihood analysis leads to a strong upper limit on the dark matter-nucleon coupling strength. We further combine the PandaX-Ⅱ constraints and those from observations of the light element abundances in the early universe, and show that direct detection and cosmological probes can provide complementary constraints on dark matter models with a light mediator.     

What is modified gravity and how to differentiate it from particle dark matter?

An obvious criterion to classify theories of modified gravity is to identify their gravitational degrees of freedom and their coupling to the metric and the matter sector. Using this simple idea, we show that any theory which depends on the curvature invariants is equivalent to general relativity in the presence of new fields that are gravitationally coupled to the energy-momentum tensor. We show that they can be shifted into a new energy-momentum tensor. There is no a priori reason to identify these new fields as gravitational degrees of freedom or matter fields. This leads to an equivalence between dark matter particles gravitationally coupled to the standard model fields and modified gravity theories designed to account for the dark matter phenomenon. Due to this ambiguity, it is impossible to differentiate experimentally between these theories and any attempt of doing so should be classified as a mere interpretation of the same phenomenon.     

Interpreting near-side correlations and the RHIC beam energy scan

Recent data from heavy ion collisions at RHIC show strong near-side correlations extending over several units of rapidity. This ridge-like correlation exhibits an abrupt onset with collision centrality. In this talk, I argue that the centrality and beam-energy dependence of these near-angle correlations could provide access to information about the Quark Gluon Plasma phase boundary and the Equation of State of nuclear matter. A beam-energy-scan at RHIC will better reveal the true source of these correlations and should be a high priority at RHIC.     

Results of the search for strange quark matter and Q-balls with the SLIM experiment

The SLIM experiment at the Chacaltaya high altitude laboratory was sensitive to nuclearites and Q-balls which could be present in the cosmic radiation as possible Dark Matter components. It was sensitive also to strangelets, i.e. small lumps of Strange Quark Matter predicted at such altitudes by various phenomenological models. The analysis of 427 m² of Nuclear Track Detectors exposed for 4.22 years showed no candidate event. New upper limits on the flux of downgoing nuclearites and Q-balls at the 90% C.L. were established. The null result also restricts models for strangelets propagation through the Earth atmosphere.     

Lepton flavor violation decays τ −→μ − P 1 P 2 in the topcolor-assisted technicolor model and the littlest Higgs model with T-parity

The new particles predicted by the topcolor-assisted technicolor (TC2) model and the littlest Higgs model with T-parity (called LHT model) can induce the lepton flavor violation (LFV) couplings at tree level or one loop level, which might generate large contributions to some LFV processes. Taking into account the constraints of the experimental data on the relevant free parameters, we calculate the branching ratios of the LFV decay processes τ ^?→μ ^? P ₁ P ₂ with P ₁ P ₂=π ⁺ π ^?, K ⁺ K ^? and $K^{0}\bar{K}^{0}$ in the context of these two kinds of new physics models. We find that the TC2 model and the LHT model can indeed produce significant contributions to some of these LFV decay processes.     

Direct search for dark matter—striking the balance—and the future

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are among the main candidates for the relic dark matter (DM). The idea of the direct DM detection relies on elastic spin-dependent (SD) and spin-independent (SI) interaction of WIMPs with target nuclei. In this review paper the relevant formulae for WIMP event rate calculations are collected. For estimations of the WIMP-proton and WIMP-neutron SD and SI cross sections the effective low-energy minimal supersymmetric standard model is used. The traditional one-coupling-dominance approach for evaluation of the exclusion curves is described. Further, the mixed spin-scalar coupling approach is discussed. It is demonstrated, taking the high-spin ⁷³Ge dark matter experiment HDMS as an example, how one can drastically improve the sensitivity of the exclusion curves within the mixed spin-scalar coupling approach, as well as due to a new procedure of background subtraction from the measured spectrum. A general discussion on the information obtained from exclusion curves is given. The necessity of clear WIMP direct detection signatures for a solution of the dark matter problem, is pointed out.