13–24 Mar 2017
Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University
Europe/Berlin timezone

The theta-dependent vacuum energy. The application to cosmology and axion search experiments

22 Mar 2017, 14:00
1h
02.430 (Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University)

02.430

Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University

Staudingerweg 9 / 2nd floor, 55128 Mainz

Speaker

Prof. Ariel Zhitnitsky (University of British Columbia)

Description

It is argued that there is a novel type of energy related to the theta parameter in gauge theories. This energy has so-called ``non-dispersive nature" and can not be expressed in terms of any local propagating degrees of freedom. Instead, this energy is generated due to the presence of the topologically nontrivial sectors in gauge theories, and tunnelling events between them. The talk is based on 3 recent papers: 1. applications to cosmology (PRD 2015, arXiv:1505.05151), 2. proposal to study this novel type of energy in a tabletop experiment in Maxwell system (PRD 2016, arXiv:1512.00470) 3. New ideas for the axion search experiments sensitive to theta_{QED} (arXiv:1702.00012)
Overview or Regular Talk? Overview: 75 min.

Primary author

Prof. Ariel Zhitnitsky (University of British Columbia)

Presentation materials