No Arabic abstract
Among the multiple 5D thick braneworld models that have been proposed in the last years, in order to address several open problems in modern physics, there is a specific one involving a tachyonic bulk scalar field. Delving into this framework, a thick braneworld with a cosmological background induced on the brane is here investigated. The respective field equations --- derived from the model with a warped 5D geometry --- are highly non-linear equations, admitting a non-trivial solution for the warp factor and the tachyon scalar field as well, in a de Sitter 4D cosmological background. Moreover, the non-linear tachyonic scalar field, that generates the brane in complicity with warped gravity, has the form of a kink-like configuration. Notwithstanding, the non-linear field equations restricting character does not allow one to easily find thick brane solutions with a decaying warp factor which leads to the localization of 4D gravity and other matter fields. We derive such a thick brane configuration altogether in this tachyon-gravity setup. When analyzing the spectrum of gravity fluctuations in the transverse traceless sector, the 4D gravity is shown to be localized due to the presence of a {it single} zero mode bound state, separated by a continuum of massive Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes by a mass gap. It contrasts with previous results, where there is a KK massive bound excitation providing no clear physical interpretation. The mass gap is determined by the scale of the metric parameter $H$. Finally, the corrections to Newtons law in this model are computed and shown to decay exponentially. It is in full compliance to corrections reported in previous results (up to a constant factor) within similar braneworlds with induced 4D de Sitter metric, despite the fact that the warp factor and the massive modes have a different form.
In this work we show that universal gauge vector fields can be localized on the recently proposed 5D thick tachyonic braneworld which involves a de Sitter cosmological background induced on the 3-brane. Namely, by performing a suitable decomposition of the vector field, the resulting 4D effective action corresponds to a massive gauge field, while the profile along the extra dimension obeys a Schroedinger-like equation with a Poeschl-Teller potential. It turns out that the massless zero mode of the gauge field is bound to the expanding 3-brane and allows us to recover the standard 4D electromagnetic phenomena of our world. Moreover, this zero mode is separated from the continuum of Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes by a mass gap determined by the scale of the expansion parameter. We also were able to analytically solve the corresponding Schroedinger-like equation for arbitrary mass, showing that KK massive modes asymptotically behave like plane waves as expected.
Braneworld models may yield interesting effects ranging from high-energy physics to cosmology, or even some low-energy physics. Their mode structure modifies standard results in these physical realms that can be tested and used to set bounds on the models parameters. Now, to define braneworld deviations from standard 4D physics, a notion of matter and gravity localization on the brane is crucial. In this work we investigate the localization of universal massive scalar fields in a de Sitter thick tachyonic braneworld generated by gravity coupled to a tachyonic bulk scalar field. This braneworld possesses a 4D de Sitter induced metric and is asymptotically flat despite the presence of a negative bulk cosmological constant, a novel and interesting peculiarity that contrasts with previously known models. Universal scalar fields can be localized in this expanding braneworld if their bulk mass obeys an upper bound, otherwise they delocalize: The dynamics of the scalar field is governed by a Schroedinger equation with an analog quantum mechanical potential of modified Poeschl-Teller type that depends on the bulk curvature of the braneworld system and the value of the bulk scalar field mass. For masses satisfying a certain upper bound, the potential displays a negative minimum and possesses a single massless bound state separated from the Kaluza-Klein (KK) massive modes by a mass gap defined by the Hubble (expansion scale) parameter of the 3-brane. As the bulk scalar field mass increases, the minimum of the quantum mechanical potential approaches a null value and, eventually, it becomes positive, transforming into a potential barrier and leading to delocalization of the bulk scalar field from the brane. The general solution of the Schroedinger equation is given in terms of general Heun functions, giving rise to a new application of these special functions.
Maximally symmetric curved-brane solutions are studied in dilatonic braneworld models which realise the self-tuning of the effective four-dimensional cosmological constant. It is found that no vacua in which the brane has de Sitter or anti-de Sitter geometry exist, unless one modifies the near-boundary asymptotics of the bulk fields. In the holographic dual picture, this corresponds to coupling the UV CFT to a curved metric (possibly with a defect). Alternatively, the same may be achieved in a flat-space QFT with suitable variable scalar sources. With these ingredients, it is found that maximally symmetric, positive and negative curvature solutions with a stabilised brane position generically exist. The space of such solutions is studied in two different types of realisations of the self-tuning framework. In some regimes we observe a large hierarchy between the curvature on the brane and the boundary UV CFT curvature. This is a dynamical effect due to the self-stabilisation mechanism. This setup provides an alternative route to realising de Sitter space in string theory.
Bubbles of nothing are a class of vacuum decay processes present in some theories with compactified extra dimensions. We investigate the existence and properties of bubbles of nothing in models where the scalar pseudomoduli controlling the size of the extra dimensions are stabilized at positive vacuum energy, which is a necessary feature of any realistic model. We map the construction of bubbles of nothing to a four-dimensional Coleman-De Luccia problem and establish necessary conditions on the asymptotic behavior of the scalar potential for the existence of suitable solutions. We perform detailed analyses in the context of five-dimensional theories with metastable $text{dS}_4 times S^1$ vacua, using analytic approximations and numerical methods to calculate the decay rate. We find that bubbles of nothing sometimes exist in potentials with no ordinary Coleman-De Luccia decay process, and that in the examples we study, when both processes exist, the bubble of nothing decay rate is faster. Our methods can be generalized to other stabilizing potentials and internal manifolds.
The equilibrium state of fields in the causal wedge of a dS observer is thermal, though realistic observers have only partial access to the state. To them, out-of-equilibrium states of a light scalar field appear to thermalize in a Markovian fashion. We show this by formulating a systematic expansion for tracing out the environment. As an example, we calculate the $O(lambda)$ correction to the result of Starobinsky and Yokoyama for the relaxation exponents of $lambda phi^4$ theory.