Natural quintessence in string theory
- Abdus Salam ICTP, Strada Costiera 11, Trieste 34014 (Italy)
- Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP (United Kingdom)
- Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Dennis Sciama Building, Portsmouth, PO1 3FX (United Kingdom)
We introduce a natural model of quintessence in string theory where the light rolling scalar is radiatively stable and couples to Standard Model matter with weaker-than-Planckian strength. The model is embedded in an anisotropic type IIB compactification with two exponentially large extra dimensions and TeV-scale gravity. The bulk turns out to be nearly supersymmetric since the scale of the gravitino mass is of the order of the observed value of the cosmological constant. The quintessence field is a modulus parameterising the size of an internal four-cycle which naturally develops a potential of the order (gravitino mass){sup 4}, leading to a small dark energy scale without tunings. The mass of the quintessence field is also radiatively stable since it is protected by supersymmetry in the bulk. Moreover, this light scalar couples to ordinary matter via its mixing with the volume mode. Due to the fact that the quintessence field is a flat direction at leading order, this mixing is very small, resulting in a suppressed coupling to Standard Model particles which avoids stringent fifth-force constraints. On the other hand, if dark matter is realised in terms of Kaluza-Klein states, unsuppressed couplings between dark energy and dark matter can emerge, leading to a scenario of coupled quintessence within string theory. We study the dynamics of quintessence in our set-up, showing that its main features make it compatible with observations.
- OSTI ID:
- 22279847
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2012, Issue 07; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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