A Universe Without Weak Interactions

Abstract

A universe without weak interactions is constructed that undergoes big-bang nucleosynthesis, matter domination, structure formation, and star formation. The stars in this universe are able to burn for billions of years, synthesize elements up to iron, and undergo supernova explosions, dispersing heavy elements into the interstellar medium. These definitive claims are supported by a detailed analysis where this hypothetical "Weakless Universe" is matched to our Universe by simultaneously adjusting Standard Model and cosmological parameters. For instance, chemistry and nuclear physics are essentially unchanged. The apparent habitability of the Weakless Universe suggests that the anthropic principle does not determine the scale of electroweak breaking, or even require that it be smaller than the Planck scale, so long as technically natural parameters may be suitably adjusted. Whether the multi-parameter adjustment is realized or probable is dependent on the ultraviolet completion, such as the string landscape. Considering a similar analysis for the cosmological constant, however, we argue that no adjustments of other parameters are able to allow the cosmological constant to raise up even remotely close to the Planck scale while obtaining macroscopic structure. The fine-tuning problems associated with the electroweak breaking scale and the cosmological constant therefore appear to be qualitatively different from the perspective of obtaining a habitable universe.

27 pages; 4 figures

References in corpus (7)

• The Anthropic Landscape of String Theory
• Dimensionless constants, cosmology and other dark matters
• Density Perturbations and the Cosmological Constant from Inflationary Landscapes
• Anthropic Distribution for Cosmological Constant and Primordial Density Perturbations
• Dark Matter and The Anthropic Principle
• Nuclear Astrophysics of Worlds in the String Landscape
• Taming the Runaway Problem of Inflationary Landscapes

Cited by in corpus (45)

• Varying constants, Gravitation and Cosmology
• Inflationary Cosmology
• Inflationary paradigm after Planck 2013
• Sinks in the Landscape, Boltzmann Brains, and the Cosmological Constant Problem
• Holographic probabilities in eternal inflation
• Living Dangerously with Low-Energy Supersymmetry
• Predicting the Cosmological Constant from the Causal Entropic Principle
• Life at the Interface of Particle Physics and String Theory
• The Beginning and the End: The Meaning of Life in a Cosmological Perspective
• Constraints on the variability of quark masses from nuclear binding
• The Weak Scale from BBN
• The Degree of Fine-Tuning in our Universe -- and Others
• Gedanken Worlds without Higgs: QCD-Induced Electroweak Symmetry Breaking
• The long and winding road from chiral effective Lagrangians to nuclear structure
• Landscape Predictions for the Higgs Boson and Top Quark Masses
• Higgs and superparticle mass predictions from the string theory landscape
• The Higgs mass and natural supersymmetric spectrum from the landscape
• Likely values of the Higgs vev
• The swampland conjecture and the Higgs expectation value
• Transient Observers and Variable Constants, or Repelling the Invasion of the Boltzmann's Brains
• Nuclear Astrophysics of Worlds in the String Landscape
• The string landscape and low energy supersymmetry
• The Multiverse and Particle Physics
• The scale of gravity and the cosmological constant within a landscape
• Editorial note to "Large number coincidences and the anthropic principle in cosmology"
• Physics Beyond the Standard Model and Dark Matter
• Constraints on Alternate Universes: Stars and habitable planets with different fundamental constants
• A Goldilocks Higgs
• Direct anthropic bound on the weak scale from supernovae explosions
• Sensitivity of Carbon and Oxygen Yields to the Triple-Alpha Resonance in Massive Stars
• On the Limits of Effective Quantum Field Theory: Eternal Inflation, Landscapes, and Other Mythical Beasts
• Why do we observe a weak force? The hierarchy problem in the multiverse
• TASI 2009 Lectures - Flavor Physics
• Universes without the Weak Force: Astrophysical Processes with Stable Neutrons
• Nuclear Processes in Other Universes: Varying the Strength of the Weak Force
• Anthropics of Aluminum-26 Decay and Biological Homochirality
• Towards a non-anthropic solution to the cosmological constant problem
• Effects of Bound Diprotons and Enhanced Nuclear Reaction Rates on Stellar Evolution
• Big Numbers in String Theory
• Anthropic Selection of Physical Constants, Quantum Entanglement, and the Multiverse Falsifiability
• Congeniality Bounds on Quark Masses from Nucleosynthesis
• Octonionic Strong and Weak Interactions and Their Quantum Equations
• A cyclic universe with colour fields
• The Emperor's Last Clothes?
• Nuclear Physics in a Susy Universe