Yoga Dark Energy: Natural Relaxation and Other Dark Implications of a Supersymmetric Gravity Sector

Abstract

We construct a class of 4D `yoga' (naturally relaxed) models for which the gravitational response of heavy-particle vacuum energies is strongly suppressed. The models contain three ingredients: (i) a relaxation mechanism, (ii) a very supersymmetric gravity sector coupled to matter for which supersymmetry is non-linearly realised, and (iii) an accidental approximate scale invariance expressed through the presence of a low-energy dilaton supermultiplet. All three are common in higher-dimensional and string constructions and although none suffices on its own, taken together they can dramatically suppress the net vacuum-energy density. The dilaton's {\it vev}~$\tau$ determines the weak scale $M_W\sim M_p/\sqrt{\tau }$. We compute the potential for $\tau$ and find it can be stabilized in a local de Sitter minimum at sufficiently large field values to explain the electroweak hierarchy, doing so using input parameters no larger than $O(60)$ because the relevant potential arises as a rational function of $\ln \tau$. The de Sitter vacuum energy at the minimum is order $c{M}_W^8\propto 1/{\tau }^4$, with $c\ll O(M_W^{-4})$. We discuss how to achieve $c\sim 1/M_p^4$ as required by observations. Scale invariance implies the dilaton couples to matter like a Brans-Dicke scalar with dangerously large coupling yet because it comes paired with an axion it can evade bounds through the novel screening mechanism described in {\tt ArXiV:2110.10352}. Cosmological axio-dilaton evolution predicts a natural quintessence model for Dark Energy, whose evolution can realize recent proposals to resolve the Hubble tension, and whose axion contributes to Dark Matter. We summarize inflationary implications and some remaining challenges, including the unusual supersymmetry breaking regime used and the potential for UV completions of our approach.

arXiv comment69 pages plus two appendices, 7 figures. This version (which fixes minor typos, adds a reference and corrects an error in the quoted PPN formula) is the one that appears in the journal

References in corpus (158)

• Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
• Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae
• The Hierarchy Problem and New Dimensions at a Millimeter
• Dynamics of dark energy
• The Cosmological Constant and Dark Energy
• de Sitter Vacua in String Theory
• Cosmology and the Fate of Dilatation Symmetry
• The Standard Model Higgs boson as the inflaton
• Hierarchies from Fluxes in String Compactifications
• Axion Cosmology
• In the Realm of the Hubble tension $-$ a Review of Solutions
• Chameleon Fields: Awaiting Surprises for Tests of Gravity in Space
• Supergravity and a Confining Gauge Theory: Duality Cascades and $\chi$SB-Resolution of Naked Singularities
• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• Cosmological Tracking Solutions
• Exponential potentials and cosmological scaling solutions
• Dark Matter Candidates from Particle Physics and Methods of Detection
• Quantization of Four-form Fluxes and Dynamical Neutralization of the Cosmological Constant
• Towards Inflation in String Theory
• The String Dilaton and a Least Coupling Principle
• Tests of general relativity from timing the double pulsar
• Systematics of Moduli Stabilisation in Calabi-Yau Flux Compactifications
• Gauge Singlet Scalars as Cold Dark Matter
• CFT's From Calabi-Yau Four-folds
• The Minimal Model of Nonbaryonic Dark Matter: A Singlet Scalar
• Cosmology with a Primordial Scaling Field
• Varying constants, Gravitation and Cosmology
• Universality Class in Conformal Inflation
• Superconformal Inflationary $\alpha$-Attractors
• Cosmological Relaxation of the Electroweak Scale
• Tensor-scalar gravity and binary-pulsar experiments
• Quintessence arising from exponential potentials
• Model Independent Properties and Cosmological Implications of the Dilaton and Moduli Sectors of 4-d Strings
• Cosmological Implications of Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking
• Large-Volume Flux Compactifications: Moduli Spectrum and D3/D7 Soft Supersymmetry Breaking
• Primordial Nucleosynthesis: from precision cosmology to fundamental physics
• Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis and Gravitino
• Testing General Relativity with Pulsar Timing
• Power-counting and the Validity of the Classical Approximation During Inflation
• Light Neutrinos without Heavy Mass Scales: A Higher-Dimensional Seesaw Mechanism
• Naturalness Versus Supersymmetric Non-renormalization Theorems
• Quintessence and Supergravity
• Planck 2015 results. XIV. Dark energy and modified gravity
• Towards a Naturally Small Cosmological Constant from Branes in 6D Supergravity
• Tests of Chameleon Gravity
• From Linear SUSY to Constrained Superfields
• Superconformal generalizations of the Starobinsky model
• Agravity
• Making the Case for Conformal Gravity
• Equivalence Principle Violations and Couplings of a Light Dilaton
• String Loop Corrections to Kahler Potentials in Orientifolds
• Fibre Inflation: Observable Gravity Waves from IIB String Compactifications
• Cosmology with Nilpotent Superfields
• The Minimal Volkov - Akulov - Starobinsky Supergravity
• General Analysis of LARGE Volume Scenarios with String Loop Moduli Stabilisation
• Models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking and quintessence
• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis as a Probe of New Physics
• Recent Progress in the Physics of Axions and Axion-Like Particles
• Changing alpha With Time: Implications For Fifth-Force-Type Experiments And Quintessence
• A robust upper limit on N_eff from BBN, circa 2011
• Effective theories of single field inflation when heavy fields matter
• Systematics of String Loop Corrections in Type IIB Calabi-Yau Flux Compactifications
• Sequestering the Standard Model Vacuum Energy
• Warped Brane Worlds in Six Dimensional Supergravity
• The Cosmological Constant and the String Landscape
• Spintessence! New Models for Dark Matter and Dark Energy
• De Sitter vs Quintessence in String Theory
• Constraints on the Variations of the Fundamental Couplings
• Lectures on the Quantum Hall Effect
• Superconformal Generalization of the Chaotic Inflation Model λϕ^4/4 - ξ/ 2 ϕ^2 R
• Astrophysical and Cosmological Implications of Large Volume String Compactifications
• Geometrical Destabilization of Inflation
• Pure de Sitter Supergravity
• Volume Modulus Inflation and the Gravitino Mass Problem
• Quintessence models in Supergravity
• Emergence of Spontaneously Broken Supersymmetry on an Anti-D3-Brane in KKLT dS Vacua
• SUSY QCD and Quintessence
• Early recombination as a solution to the $H_0$ tension
• Uplifting Runaways
• Improved BBN Constraints on the Variation of the Gravitational Constant
• A Manifestly Local Theory of Vacuum Energy Sequestering
• Realistic D-Brane Models on Warped Throats: Fluxes, Hierarchies and Moduli Stabilization
• Natural Quintessence and Large Extra Dimensions
• Time-varying coupling strengths, nuclear forces and unification
• Kahler Potentials of Chiral Matter Fields for Calabi-Yau String Compactifications
• A QCD analogy for quantum gravity
• Anisotropic Modulus Stabilisation: Strings at LHC Scales with Micron-sized Extra Dimensions
• New Constraints (and Motivations) for Abelian Gauge Bosons in the MeV-TeV Mass Range
• Constraining the evolutionary history of Newton's constant with gravitational wave observations
• Small Cosmological Constants in String Theory
• Inflating in a Trough: Single-Field Effective Theory from Multiple-Field Curved Valleys
• Robust Inflation from Fibrous Strings
• Signals of a superlight gravitino at hadron colliders when the other superparticles are heavy
• SUSY Breaking and Moduli Stabilization from Fluxes in Gauged 6D Supergravity
• Probing the Friedmann equation during recombination with future CMB experiments
• The Equivalence Principle and the Moon
• MSLED: A Minimal Supersymmetric Large Extra Dimensions Scenario
• Minkowski 3-forms, Flux String Vacua, Axion Stability and Naturalness
• On the Quantisation of Complex Higher Derivative Theories and Avoiding the Ostrogradsky Ghost
• Signals of a superlight gravitino at e^+ e^- colliders when the other superparticles are heavy
• Natural Quintessence in String Theory
• Global String Embeddings for the Nilpotent Goldstino
• Naturalness and Dimensional Transmutation in Classically Scale-Invariant Gravity
• Quintessence Models and the Cosmological Evolution of alpha
• Scaling Solutions to 6D Gauged Chiral Supergravity
• Moduli Redefinitions and Moduli Stabilisation
• A Note on the Magnitude of the Flux Superpotential
• Self-Organised Localisation
• Angular inflation in multi-field $\alpha$-attractors
• Logarithmic loop corrections, moduli stabilisation and de Sitter vacua in string theory
• Constrained superfields in Supergravity
• Nonrenormalization of Flux Superpotentials in String Theory
• The Ostrogradsky instability can be overcome by quantum physics
• String Theory Realizations of the Nilpotent Goldstino
• UV Shadows in EFTs: Accidental Symmetries, Robustness and No-Scale Supergravity
• Moduli Stabilisation with Nilpotent Goldstino: Vacuum Structure and SUSY Breaking
• Out of the Swampland with Multifield Quintessence?
• Cosmology at at Crossroads: Tension with the Hubble Constant
• Quintessence and the Swampland: The parametrically controlled regime of moduli space
• Catastrophic Production of Slow Gravitinos
• Anti-D3 branes and moduli in non-linear supergravity
• On de Sitter String Vacua from Anti-D3-Branes in the Large Volume Scenario
• Relaxation of the Cosmological Constant
• On Spherically Symmetric String Solutions in Four Dimensions
• Semi-Analytic Stellar Structure in Scalar-Tensor Gravity
• Supersymmetric Large Extra Dimensions Are Small and/or Numerous
• Towards a UV Completion for Chameleon Scalar Theories
• Quadratic gravity: from weak to strong
• The $F$-term Problem and other Challenges of Stringy Quintessence
• Quintessence and the Swampland: The numerically controlled regime of moduli space
• Systematics of the ${\alpha }^{\prime }$ Expansion in F-Theory
• Constraining a possible variation of G with Type Ia supernovae
• The general de Sitter supergravity component action
• Slow and Safe Gravitinos
• Axion Homeopathy: Screening Dilaton Interactions
• The Self-Organized Critical Multiverse
• Axionic D3-D7 Inflation
• Geometrical Destabilisation of Ultra-Light Axions in String Inflation
• The Cosmological Constant Problem: Why it's hard to get Dark Energy from Micro-physics
• On Brane Back-Reaction and de Sitter Solutions in Higher-Dimensional Supergravity
• MSLED, Neutrino Oscillations and the Cosmological Constant
• Search Optimization, Funnel Topography, and Dynamical Criticality on the String Landscape
• Power-counting during single-field slow-roll inflation
• Inducing the Einstein action in QCD-like theories
• Cosmology in the presence of multiple light moduli
• Salvage of Too Slow Gravitinos
• Signs and Stability in Higher-Derivative Gravity
• Duality and Four-Dimensional Black Holes
• Who's Afraid of the Supersymmetric Dark? The Standard Model vs Low-Energy Supergravity
• Linking Light Scalar Modes with A Small Positive Cosmological Constant in String Theory
• Keeping an Eye on DBI: Power-counting for small-$c_s$ Cosmology
• ${\alpha }^{\prime }$-Corrections and de Sitter Vacua - a Mirage?
• Standard Model from A Supergravity Model with a Naturally Small Cosmological Constant
• Chameleons on the Racetrack
• Goldilocks Models of Higher-Dimensional Inflation (including modulus stabilization)
• A Fake Instability in String Inflation
• Generalised scalar-tensor theories and self-tuning
• The Cosmological Constant and the Electroweak Scale

Cited by in corpus (15)

• On the evolution of the Hubble constant with the SNe Ia Pantheon Sample and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations: a feasibility study for GRB-cosmology in 2030
• Symmetry of Cosmological Observables, and a High Hubble Constant as an Indicator of a Mirror World Dark Sector
• Early Dark Energy in Type IIB String Theory
• Axion Homeopathy: Screening Dilaton Interactions
• Scaling Transformations and the Origins of Light Relics Constraints from Cosmic Microwave Background Observations
• Addressing the Hubble and $S_8$ Tensions with a Kinetically Mixed Dark Sector
• RG-Induced Modulus Stabilization: Perturbative de Sitter Vacua and Improved $D3$-$\overline{D3}$ Inflation
• Cosmological dynamics of multifield dark energy
• Towards a Dark Sector Model from String Theory
• Light Axiodilatons: Matter Couplings, Weak-Scale Completions and Long-Distance Tests of Gravity
• Back to the origins of brane-antibrane inflation
• Towards A Direct Detection of the Spin of Dark Matter
• Quintom fields from chiral anisotropic cosmology
• A Novel Solution to the Gravitino Problem
• Towards a de Sitter quintom-like cosmology from a reduction of a 7-dimensional $BF$ theory