Related papers: Hubble selection of the weak scale from QCD quantu…
We show that vector-like quarks in the fundamental or higher-dimensional representations of QCD can generate the electro-weak scale in a phenomenologically viable way by chiral symmetry breaking condensates. The thereby generated scales are…
We investigate the modifications to inflationary observables that arise when adopting an $\alpha$-vacuum instead of the standard Bunch--Davies vacuum for quantum fluctuations during inflation. Within the Starobinsky inflationary model, we…
The observational constraints on the primordial power spectrum have tightened considerably with the release of the first year analysis of the WMAP observations, especially when combined with the results from other CMB experiments and galaxy…
A quantum phase transition is usually achieved by tuning physical parameters in a Hamiltonian at zero temperature. Here, we demonstrate that the ground state of a topological phase itself encodes critical properties of its transition to a…
A different reason for the apparent weakness of the gravitational interaction is advanced, and its consequences for Hawking evaporation of a Schwarzschild black hole are investigated. Proceeding from some fundamental thermodynamic…
Quantum origin of the early inflationary Universe from the no-boundary and tunnelling quantum states is considered in the one-loop approximation of quantum cosmology. A universal effective action algorithm for the distribution function of…
The measurement of the Higgs mass at the LHC has confirmed that the Standard Model electroweak vacuum is a shallow local minimum and is not absolutely stable. In addition to a probable unacceptably fast tunneling to the deep true minimum,…
The low-temperature properties of the two-dimensional attractive Hubbard model are strongly influenced by the fermion density. Away from half-filling, there is a finite-temperature transition to a phase with s-wave pairing order. However,…
Within the Hubbard-Holstein model, we evaluate the various crossover lines marking the opening of pseudogaps in the cuprates, which, in our scenario, are ruled by the proximity to a charge-ordering quantum criticality (stripe formation). We…
Local measurements of the Hubble parameter obtained from the distance ladder at low redshift are in tension with global values inferred from cosmological standard rulers. A key role in the tension is played by the assumptions on the…
While driven interacting quantum matter is generically subject to heating and scrambling, certain classes of systems evade this paradigm. We study such an exceptional class in periodically driven critical (1 + 1)-dimensional systems with a…
The simplest topologically ordered phase in 2+1D is the deconfined phase of $Z_2$ gauge theory, realized for example in the toric code. This phase permits a duality that exchanges electric and magnetic excitations (``$e$'' and ``$m$''…
Inspired by recent experiments on 3He films between one and two atoms thick, we consider a bilayer Hubbard model on a triangular lattice. Our results are obtained in the framework of a cluster dynamical mean-field calculation with a quantum…
We discuss the constraints on the inhomogeneous reheating scenario. In particular, we discuss the prospects for low scale inflation with a Hubble constant of the order of the gravitino mass, and the possibility that an MSSM flat direction…
We discuss models in which the smallness of the effective vacuum energy density $\rho_\L$ and the coincidence of the time of its dominance $t_\L$ with the epoch of galaxy formation $t_G$ are due to anthropic selection effects. In such…
The behaviour of the chiral condensate in QCD is investigated by means of a study of the distribution of the zeros of the partition function in the complex quark mass plane. Simulations are performed at fixed temperature on three different…
The theory of multiverse and wormholes suggests that the parameters of the Standard Model are fixed in such a way that the radiation of the $S^{3}$ universe at the final stage $S_{rad}$ becomes maximum, which we call the maximum entropy…
We study phase structure and critical point of finite-temperature QCD in the heavy-quark region applying the hopping parameter expansion (HPE). We first study finite-size scaling on the critical point on $N_t=4$ lattices with large spatial…
We discuss the universal critical behavior in (2+1)-flavor QCD by analyzing lattice data from improved staggered fermions generated by the HotQCD Collaboration. We present recent results from two different lattice discretizations and…
We review a striking array of recent experiments, and their theoretical interpretations, on the superfluid transition in $^4$He in the presence of a heat flux, $Q$. We define and evaluate a new set of critical point exponents. The statics…