Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · hep-th/0611130

Why the early Universe preferred the non-supersymmetric vacuum: Part II

Steven A. Abel·Joerg Jaeckel·Valentin V. Khoze
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

It was recently shown in hep-th/0610334 that in the context of the ISS models with a metastable supersymmetry breaking vacuum, thermal effects generically drive the Universe to the metastable vacuum even if it began after inflation in the supersymmetry-preserving one. We continue this programme and specifically take into account two new effects. First is the effect of the mass-gap of the gauge degrees of freedom in the confining supersymmetry preserving vacua, and second, is the effect of the back reaction of the MSSM sector on the SUSY breaking ISS sector. It is shown that, even though the mass-gap is parametrically smaller than the <ϕ> vevs, it drastically reduces the temperature required for the Universe to be driven to the metastable vacuum: essentially any temperature larger than the supersymmetry breaking scale μis sufficient. On the other hand we also find that any reasonable transmission of SUSY breaking to the MSSM sector has no effect on the vacuum transitions to, and the stability of the SUSY breaking vacuum. We conclude that for these models the early Universe does end up in the SUSY breaking vacuum.

Explore related subjects

hep-thastro-phhep-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Steven A. Abel, Joerg Jaeckel, Valentin V. Khoze. 2006-11-13. Why the early Universe preferred the non-supersymmetric vacuum: Part II. https://doi.org/10.1088/1126-6708%2F2007%2F01%2F015

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Physical Predictions in Closed Quantum Gravity

Recent developments in gravitational path integrals indicate that the nonperturbative physical Hilbert space of a closed universe is one-dimensional within each superselection sector. This raises a basic puzzle: how can a unique quantum-gravity state give rise to semiclassical physics, measurement outcomes, and classical probabilities? In this paper, we develop a framework in which nontrivial and statistically stable predictions emerge despite the one-dimensionality of the fully constrained Hilbert space. The key idea is to extract physical predictions in an enlarged, unconstrained Hilbert space by conditioning on observational data. We show that partial observability -- reflecting the limited access of observers to the degrees of freedom of the universe -- suppresses ensemble fluctuations associated with microscopic structure in the gravitational path integral, thereby restoring semiclassical predictability with exponential accuracy. We formulate the construction explicitly including contributions from the Hartle--Hawking no-boundary state, define a gauge-invariant Hilbert space for observations via a density operator, and generalize the formalism to conditioning on histories, clarifying the emergence of classical probabilities and an effective arrow of time. Finally, we explore whether this framework can support a realistic cosmology and identify assumptions that the underlying theory of quantum gravity must satisfy.

hep-th↗
arXiv2026

de Sitter extremal surfaces, time contours, complexifications and pseudo-entropies

We study no-boundary de Sitter extremal surfaces and their pseudo-entropy areas for generic subregions at the future boundary, building on previous work. For large subregions, timelike+Euclidean extremal surfaces exist with transparent geometric interpretations, as do complex ones. The situation for small subregions is analogous to Poincare $dS$ and only complex extremal surfaces exist. In general, the extremal surface area integrals are defined via time contours in the complex time plane. We find multiple extremal surfaces with indistinguishable areas whose time contours can be deformed into each other in the complex time plane without obstruction, which are equivalent for these purposes. This also suggests equivalences between complex $dS$ replica geometries. We discuss $dS_3$ as a simple example at length. This suggests a picture for multiple subregions and entropy inequalities in de Sitter, as encoding $AdS$ ones via analytic continuation. We also discuss mapping future boundary subregions and those on constant time slices in the static patch via lightrays.

hep-th↗
arXiv2026

Wall-crossing of Instantons on the Blow-up

We study the instanton counting in four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories on the blow-up of $\mathbb{C}^2$: we start by formulating the instanton moduli space as a quiver variety, which we regularise by introducing two stability parameters, thus endowing it with a structure of infinitely many chambers separated by walls. Within a given chamber, we formulate the instanton partition function as a contour integral, which can be evaluated using the Jeffrey-Kirwan residue prescription. We characterise the physically relevant contributions in terms of bipartite oriented graphs and show that they can more efficiently be classified in terms of combinatorial objects called super-partitions. Within a given chamber, only certain types of super-partitions contribute and we show that the corresponding selection criteria are equivalent to stability conditions that have previously been proposed in the literature. We use this formalism to compare how the instanton counting changes when moving across walls between neighbouring chambers and provide explicit expressions for the corresponding partition functions. In a limiting chamber and using our approach, we show how to reproduce the Nakajima-Yoshioka blow-up formula.

hep-th↗