# Vacuum Polarization and Photon Propagation in an Electromagnetic Plane Wave [CL]

The QED vacuum polarization in external monochromatic plane-wave electromagnetic fields is calculated with spatial and temporal variations of the external fields being taken into account. We develop a perturbation theory to calculate the induced electromagnetic current that appears in the Maxwell equations, based on Schwinger’s proper-time method, and combine it with the so-called gradient expansion to handle the variation of external fields perturbatively. The crossed field, i.e., the long wavelength limit of the electromagnetic wave is first considered. The eigenmodes and the refractive indices as the eigenvalues associated with the eigenmodes are computed numerically for the probe photon propagating in some particular directions. In so doing, no limitation is imposed on the field strength and the photon energy unlike previous studies. It is shown that the real part of the refractive index becomes less than unity for strong fields, the phenomenon that has been known to occur for high-energy probe photons. We then evaluate numerically the lowest-order corrections to the crossed-field resulting from the field variations in space and time. It is demonstrated that the corrections occur mainly in the imaginary part of the refractive index.

Thu, 18 Jan 18
58/58

Comments: 50 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics

# Initial conditions for Inflation in an FRW Universe [CL]

We examine the class of initial conditions which give rise to inflation. Our analysis is carried out for several popular models including: Higgs inflation, Starobinsky inflation, chaotic inflation, axion monodromy inflation and non-canonical inflation. In each case we determine the set of initial conditions which give rise to sufficient inflation, with at least $60$ e-foldings. A phase-space analysis has been performed for each of these models and the effect of the initial inflationary energy scale on inflation has been studied numerically. This paper discusses two scenarios of Higgs inflation: (i) the Higgs is coupled to the scalar curvature, (ii) the Higgs Lagrangian contains a non-canonical kinetic term. In both cases we find Higgs inflation to be very robust since it can arise for a large class of initial conditions. One of the central results of our analysis is that, for plateau-like potentials associated with the Higgs and Starobinsky models, inflation can be realized even for initial scalar field values which lie close to the minimum of the potential. This dispels a misconception relating to plateau potentials prevailing in the literature. We also find that inflation in all models is more robust for larger values of the initial energy scale.

S. Mishra, V. Sahni and A. Toporensky
Wed, 17 Jan 18
5/51

# Neutrino masses and their ordering: Global Data, Priors and Models [CL]

We present a Bayesian analysis of the combination of current neutrino oscillation, neutrinoless double beta decay and CMB observations. Our major goal is to carefully investigate the possibility to single out one neutrino mass ordering, Normal Ordering or Inverted Ordering, with current data. Two possible parametrizations (three neutrino masses versus the lightest neutrino mass plus the two oscillation mass splittings) and priors (linear versus logarithmic) are examined. We find that the preference for NO is only driven by neutrino oscillation data. Moreover, the values of the Bayes factor indicate that the evidence for NO is strong only when the scan is performed over the three neutrino masses with logarithmic priors; for every other combination of parameterization and prior, the preference for NO is only weak. As a by-product of our Bayesian analyses, we are able to a) compare the Bayesian bounds on the neutrino mixing parameters to those obtained by means of frequentist approaches, finding a very good agreement; b) determine that the lightest neutrino mass plus the two mass splittings parametrization, motivated by the physical observables, is strongly preferred over the three neutrino mass eigenstates scan and c) find that there is a weak-to-moderate preference for logarithmic priors. These results establish the optimal strategy to successfully explore the neutrino parameter space, based on the use of the oscillation mass splittings and a logarithmic prior on the lightest neutrino mass. We also show that the limits on the total neutrino mass $\sum m_\nu$ can change dramatically when moving from one prior to the other. These results have profound implications for future studies on the neutrino mass ordering, as they crucially state the need for self-consistent analyses which explore the best parametrization and priors, without combining results that involve different assumptions.

S. Gariazzo, M. Archidiacono, P. Salas, et. al.
Wed, 17 Jan 18
21/51

Comments: 21 pages, 5 figures, 6 tables

# Absolute stability window and upper bound on the magnetic field strength in a strongly magnetized strange quark star [CL]

Magnetized strange quark stars, composed of strange quark matter (SQM) and self-bound by strong interactions, can be formed if the energy per baryon of magnetized SQM is less than that of the most stable $^{56}$Fe nucleus under the zero external pressure and temperature. Utilizing the MIT bag model description of magnetized SQM under charge neutrality and beta equilibrium conditions, the corresponding absolute stability window in the parameter space of the theory is determined. It is shown that there exists the maximum magnetic field strength allowed by the condition of absolute stability of magnetized SQM. The value of this field, $H\sim3\cdot10^{18}$ G, represents the upper bound on the magnetic field strength which can be reached in a strongly magnetized strange quark star.

A. Isayev
Wed, 17 Jan 18
46/51

Comments: 9 pages, 2 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1501.07772

# A radiative neutrino mass model in light of DAMPE excess with hidden gauged $U(1)$ symmetry [CL]

We propose a one-loop induced neutrino mass model with hidden $U(1)$ gauge symmetry, in which we successfully involve a bosonic dark matter (DM) candidate propagating inside a loop diagram in neutrino mass generation to explain electron/positron excess recently reported by DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE). In our scenario dark matter annihilates into four leptons through $Z’$ boson as DM DM $\to Z’ Z’ (Z’ \to \ell^+ \ell^-)$ and $Z’$ decays into leptons via one-loop effect. We then investigate branching ratios of $Z’$ taking into account lepton flavor violations and neutrino oscillation data.

T. Nomura, H. Okada and P. Wu
Tue, 16 Jan 18
36/79

Comments: 14 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

# The nature of the intrinsic spectra from the VHE emission of H 2356-309 and 1ES 1101-232 [HEAP]

The VHE emission from the HBLs H 2356-309 and 1ES 1101-232 were observed by HESS telescopes during 2004–2007. Particularly the observation in 2004 from H 2356-309 and during 2004–2005 from 1ES 1101-232 were analyzed to derive strong upper limits on the EBL which was found to be consistent with the lower limits from the integrated light of resolved galaxies. Here we have used the photohadronic model corroborated by two template EBL models to fit the observed VHE gamma-ray data from these two HBLs and to predict their intrinsic spectra. We obtain very good fit to the VHE spectra of these two HBLs. However, the predicted intrinsic spectra are different for different EBL models. For the HBL H 2356-309, we obtain a flat intrinsic spectrum and for 1ES 1101-232 the spectrum is mildly harder than 2 but much softer than 1.5.

S. Sahu, A. Leon and S. Nagataki
Tue, 16 Jan 18
48/79

We study tidal stripping of fuzzy dark matter (FDM) subhalo cores using simulations of the Schr\”{o}dinger-Poisson equations and analyse the dynamics of tidal disruption, highlighting the differences with standard cold dark matter. Mass loss outside of the tidal radius forces the core to relax into a less compact configuration, lowering the tidal radius. As the characteristic radius of a solitonic core scales inversely with its mass, tidal stripping results in a runaway effect and rapid tidal disruption of the core once its central density drops below $4.5$ times the average density of the host within the orbital radius. Additionally, we find that the core is deformed into a tidally locked ellipsoid with increasing eccentricities until it is completely disrupted. Using the core mass loss rate, we compute the minimum mass of cores that can survive several orbits for different FDM particle masses and compare it with observed masses of satellite galaxies in the Milky Way.