Dimensional transmutation in gravity and cosmology

We review (and extend) the analysis of general theories of all interactions (gravity included) where the mass scales are due to dimensional transmutation. Quantum consistency requires the presence of terms in the action with four derivatives of the metric. It is shown, nevertheless, how unitary is achieved and the classical Ostrogradsky instabilities can be avoided. The four-derivative terms also allow us to have a UV complete framework and a naturally small ratio between the Higgs mass and the Planck scale. Moreover, black holes of Einstein gravity with horizons smaller than a certain (microscopic) scale are replaced by horizonless ultracompact objects that are free from any singularity and have interesting phenomenological applications. We also discuss the predictions that can be compared with observations of the microwave background radiation anisotropies and find that this scenario is viable and can be tested with future data. Finally, how strong phase transitions can emerge in models of this type with approximate scale symmetry and how to test them with GW detectors is reviewed and explained.

Dark matter in minimal dimensional transmutation with multicritical-point principle

We investigate a model with two real scalar fields that minimally generates exponentially different scales in an analog of the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. The classical scale invariance — the absence of dimensionful parameters in the tree-level action, required in such a scale generation — can naturally be understood as a special case of the multicritical-point principle. This two-scalar model can couple to the Standard Model Higgs field to realize a maximum multicriticality (with all the dimensionful parameters being tuned to critical values) for field values around the electroweak scale, providing a generalization of the classical scale invariance to a wider class of criticality. As a bonus, one of the two scalars can be identified as Higgs-portal dark matter. We find that this model can be consistent with the constraints from dark matter relic abundance, its direct detection experiments, and the latest LHC data, while keeping the perturbativity up to the reduced Planck scale. We then present successful benchmark points satisfying all these constraints: the mass of dark matter is a few TeV, and its scattering cross section with nuclei is of the order of 10−9 pb, reachable in near future experiments. The mass of extra Higgs boson H is smaller than or of the order of 100 GeV, and the cross section of e+e− → ZH can be of fb level for collision energy 250 GeV, targetted at future lepton colliders.

Transmutation Operator Method for Solving Heat Conduction Problem

The transmutation operator method is extended to the case of functions of two variables. The transmutation operator flattens the function, i.e. the transmutation operator replaces a function with discontinuous partial derivatives on the coordinate axes by a continuously differentiable function. The work reveal the properties of the transmutation operator, and prove the commutativity of the transmutation operator and the Laplace operator. It was found that the Cauchy problem for the Laplace equation with internal conjugations in an unbounded domain can be replaced with the model Cauchy problem for the twodimensional Laplace equation. As a result, a new analytical method for solving initial-boundary value problems for a two-dimensional heat equation has been developed. The factorization of the transmutation operator is established as a product of two one-dimensional transmutation operators. The form of the transmutation operator establishing the isomorphism of two mathematical models of heat conduction in unbounded media with different physical characteristics was found and descrfibed.

Genuine Dilatons in Gauge Theories

A genuine dilaton σ allows scales to exist even in the limit of exact conformal invariance. In gauge theories, these may occur at an infrared fixed point (IRFP) α IR through dimensional transmutation. These large scales at α IR can be separated from small scales produced by θ μ μ , the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. For quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the conformal limit can be combined with chiral S U ( 3 ) × S U ( 3 ) symmetry to produce chiral-scale perturbation theory χ PT σ , with f 0 ( 500 ) as the dilaton. The technicolor (TC) analogue of this is crawling TC: at low energies, the gauge coupling α goes directly to (but does not walk past) α IR , and the massless dilaton at α IR corresponds to a light Higgs boson at α ≲ α IR . It is suggested that the W ± and Z 0 bosons set the scale of the Higgs boson mass. Unlike crawling TC, in walking TC, θ μ μ produces all scales, large and small, so it is hard to argue that its “dilatonic” candidate for the Higgs boson is not heavy.

Quasi-conformal models and the early universe

Extensions of the Standard Model and general relativity featuring a UV fixed point can leave observable implications at accessible energies. Although mass parameters such as the Planck scale can appear through dimensional transmutation, all fundamental dimension-4 operators can (at least approximately) respect Weyl invariance at finite energy. An example is the Weyl-squared term, whose consistency and observational consequences are studied. This quasi-conformal scenario emerges from the UV complete quadratic gravity and is a possible framework for inflation. We find two realizations. In the first one the inflaton is a fundamental scalar with a quasi-conformal non-minimal coupling to the Ricci scalar. In this case the field excursion must not exceed the Planck mass by far. An example discussed in detail is hilltop inflation. In the second realization the inflaton is a pseudo-Goldstone boson (natural inflation). In this case we show how to obtain an elegant UV completion within an asymptotically free QCD-like theory, in which the inflaton is a composite scalar due to new strong dynamics. We also show how efficient reheating can occur. Unlike the natural inflation based on Einstein gravity, the tensor-to-scalar ratio is well below the current bound set by Planck. In both realizations mentioned above, the basic inflationary formulæ are computed analytically and, therefore, these possibilities can be used as simple benchmark models.

Some Consequences of the Renormalisation Group

The use of the renormalisation group and the Callan–Symanzik equations in the study of the asymptotic behaviour of Green functions. The stability properties of a Lagrangian field theory. The phenomenon of dimensional transmutation.

Extracting the QCD ΛMS¯ parameter in Drell–Yan process using Collins–Soper–Sterman approach

In this work, we directly fit the QCD dimensional transmutation parameter, [Formula: see text], to experimental data of Drell–Yan (DY) observables. For this purpose, we first obtain the evolution of transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDPDFs) up to the next-to-next-to-leading logarithm (NNLL) approximation based on Collins–Soper–Sterman (CSS) formalism. As is expecting the TMDPDFs are appearing at larger values of transverse momentum by increasing the energy scales and also the order of approximation. Then we calculate the cross-section related to the TMDPDFs in the DY process. As a consequence of global fitting to the five sets of experimental data at different low center-of-mass energies and one set at high center-of-mass energy, using CETQ06 parametrizations as our boundary condition, we obtain [Formula: see text] MeV corresponding to the renormalized coupling constant [Formula: see text] which is within the acceptable range for this quantity. The goodness of [Formula: see text] shows the results for DY cross-section are in good agreement with different experimental sets, containing E288, E605 and R209 at low center-of-mass energies and [Formula: see text], CDF data at high center-of-mass energy. The repeated calculations, using HERAPDFs parametrizations is yielding us numerical values for fitted parameters very close to what we obtain using CETQ06 PDFs set. This indicates that the obtained results have enough stability by variations in the boundary conditions.