The Triple-Alpha Process and the Anthropically Allowed Values of the Weak Scale

Abstract

In multiple-universe models, the constants of nature may have different values in different universes. Agrawal, Barr, Donoghue and Seckel have pointed out that the Higgs mass parameter, as the only dimensionful parameter of the standard model, is of particular interest. By considering a range of values of this parameter, they showed that the Higgs vacuum expectation value must have a magnitude less than 5.0 times its observed value, in order for complex elements, and thus life, to form. In this report, we look at the effects of the Higgs mass parameter on the triple-alpha process in stars. This process, which is greatly enhanced by a resonance in Carbon-12, is responsible for virtually all of the carbon production in the universe. We find that the Higgs vacuum expectation value must have a magnitude greater than 0.90 times its observed value in order for an appreciable amount of carbon to form, thus significantly narrowing the allowed region of Agrawal et al.

9 pages, 1 figure

Cited by in corpus (22)

• The fundamental constants and their variation: observational status and theoretical motivations
• Dimensionless constants, cosmology and other dark matters
• Why the Universe is Just So
• Implications of Gauge Unification for Time Variation of the Fine Structure Constant
• Sinks in the Landscape, Boltzmann Brains, and the Cosmological Constant Problem
• Quark mass dependence of the rho and sigma from dispersion relations and Chiral Perturbation Theory
• Living Dangerously with Low-Energy Supersymmetry
• The Quark-Mass Dependence of Two-Nucleon Systems
• Variation of Fundamental Couplings and Nuclear Forces
• Strange and non-strange quark mass dependence of elastic light resonances from SU(3) Unitarized Chiral Perturbation Theory to one loop
• Life at the Interface of Particle Physics and String Theory
• A Universe Without Weak Interactions
• Stellar production rates of carbon and its abundance in the universe
• The Weak Scale from BBN
• A Closer Look at Gaugino Masses in Pure Gravity Mediation Model/Minimal Split SUSY Model
• Nuclear Astrophysics of Worlds in the String Landscape
• The Multiverse and Particle Physics
• Lower Bound on the Garvitino Mass $m_{3/2}>O(100)$ TeV in $R$-Symmetry Breaking New Inflation
• Sensitivity of Carbon and Oxygen Yields to the Triple-Alpha Resonance in Massive Stars
• Stellar Helium Burning in Other Universes: A solution to the triple alpha fine-tuning problem
• A Slant on Warped Extra Dimensions
• I=1/2 low-lying mesons in lattice QCD