Anthropic considerations in nuclear physics

Abstract

In this short review, I discuss the sensitivity of the generation of the light and the life-relevant elements like carbon and oxygen under changes of the parameters of the Standard Model pertinent to nuclear physics. Chiral effective field theory allows for a systematic and precise description of the forces between two, three, and four nucleons. In this framework, variations under the light quark masses and the electromagnetic fine structure constant can also be consistently calculated. Combining chiral nuclear effective field theory with Monte Carlo simulations allows to further calculate the properties of nuclei, in particular of the Hoyle state in carbon, that plays a crucial role in the generation of the life-relevant elements in hot, old stars. The dependence of the triple-alpha process on the fundamental constants of Nature is calculated and some implications for our anthropic view of the Universe are discussed.

minor additions and modifications, reference added, version accepted to appear in Science Bulletin (2015), 19 pp, 8 figs

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• Chiral effective field theory and nuclear forces
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• The two-nucleon system at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order
• Three-Nucleon Forces from Chiral Effective Field Theory
• Ab initio calculation of the Hoyle state
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• Lattice simulations for few- and many-body systems
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• Nuclear forces in the chiral limit
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• Unambiguous Identification of the Second 2+ State in 12C and the Structure of the Hoyle State
• Chiral three-nucleon force at N^4LO I: Longest-range contributions
• Covariant spectator theory of np scattering: Phase shifts obtained from precision fits to data below 350 MeV
• Lattice Effective Field Theory for Medium-Mass Nuclei
• The quark condensate from K_{e_4} decays
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• Resonance saturation for four-nucleon operators
• Viability of carbon-based life as a function of the light quark mass
• Chiral three-nucleon force at N^4LO II: Intermediate-range contributions
• Two-pion exchange three-nucleon potential: O(q^4) chiral expansion
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• Stellar production rates of carbon and its abundance in the universe
• Varying the light quark mass: impact on the nuclear force and Big Bang nucleosynthesis
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• Helium Nuclei in Quenched Lattice QCD
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• Lattice chiral effective field theory with three-body interactions at next-to-next-to-leading order
• Dependence of the triple-alpha process on the fundamental constants of nature
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• Radiative capture reactions in lattice effective field theory
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• Microscopic Clustering in Light Nuclei
• Frontiers in Nuclear Astrophysics
• Nuclear matrix elements from lattice QCD for electroweak and beyond-Standard-Model processes
• The Degree of Fine-Tuning in our Universe -- and Others
• An Axion-induced SM/MSSM Higgs Landscape and the Weak Gravity Conjecture
• The long and winding road from chiral effective Lagrangians to nuclear structure
• Low-energy theorems for nucleon-nucleon scattering at unphysical pion masses
• Swampland Constraints on Neutrino Masses
• The Multiverse and Particle Physics
• Low-energy theorems for nucleon-nucleon scattering at $M_{\pi }=450$ MeV
• $\theta$-dependence of light nuclei and nucleosynthesis
• A proposed direct measurement of cross section at Gamow window for key reaction ${}^{19}$F($p$,$\alpha$)${}^{16}$O in Asymptotic Giant Branch stars with a planned accelerator in CJPL
• An update on fine-tunings in the triple-alpha process
• Theoretical study of fusion reactions ${}^{32}$S + ${}^{94,96}$Zr and ${}^{40}$Ca + ${}^{94,96}$Zr and quadrupole deformation of ${}^{94}$Zr
• Sensitivity of Carbon and Oxygen Yields to the Triple-Alpha Resonance in Massive Stars
• Alpha-alpha scattering in the Multiverse
• Subleading contributions to the nuclear scalar isoscalar currents
• On the sensitivity of nuclear clocks to new physics
• Scattering phase shifts and mixing angles for an arbitrary number of coupled channels on the lattice
• The self-tuning of the cosmological constant and the holographic relaxion
• Probing nuclear observables via primordial nucleosynthesis
• Improved Constraints on the Variation of the Weak Scale from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• The Majorana neutrino mass matrix indicated by the current data