Particle theory

Abstract:

We reconsider the problems of cosmological inflation in effective supergravity theories. A singlet field in a hidden sector is demonstrated to yield an acceptable inflationary potential, without fine tuning. In the simplest such model, the requirement of generating the microwave background anisotropy measured by COBE fixes the inflationary scale to be about $10^{14}$ GeV, implying a reheat temperature of order $10^{5}$ GeV. This is low enough to solve the gravitino problem but high enough to allow baryogenesis after inflation. Such consistency requires that the generation of gravitational waves be negligible and that the spectrum of scalar density perturbations depart significantly from scale-invariance, thus improving the fit to large-scale structure in an universe dominated by cold dark matter. We also consider the problems associated with gravitino production through inflaton decay and with other weakly coupled fields such as the moduli encountered in (compactified) string theories.

Abstract:

A recently reported anomaly in the time structure of signals in the KARMEN neutrino detector suggests the decay of a new particle $x$, produced in $\pi^+ \to \mu^+ x$ with mass $m_x=33.9$ MeV. We discuss the constraints and difficulties in interpreting $x$ as a neutrino. We show that a mainly-sterile neutrino scenario is compatible with all laboratory constraints, within narrow limits on the mixing parameters, although there are problems with astrophysical and cosmological constraints. This scenario predicts that appreciable numbers of other $x$-decay events with different origins and time structures should also be observable in the KARMEN detector. Such $x$-decay events should also be found in the LSND experiment and may be relevant to the search for $\bar\nu_\mu\to\bar\nu_e$ oscillations.