Particle theory

Abstract:

The expected proton and neutrino fluxes from decays of massive metastable relic particles is calculated using the HERWIG QCD event generator. The predicted proton spectrum can account for the observed flux of extremely high energy cosmic rays beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff, for a decaying particle mass of O(10^{12}) GeV. The lifetime required is of O(10^{20}) yr if such particles constitute all of the dark matter (with a proportionally shorter lifetime for a smaller contribution). Such values are plausible if the metastable particles are hadron-like bound states from the hidden sector of supersymmetry breaking which decay through non-renormalizable interactions. The expected ratio of the proton to neutrino flux is given as a diagonistic of the decaying particle model for the forthcoming Pierre Auger project.

Abstract:

A model of complex spins (corresponding to a non-minimal model in the language of CFT) coupled to the binary branched polymer sector of quantum gravity is considered. We show that this leads to new behaviour.