Scalar potential

About: Scalar potential is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3642 publications have been published within this topic receiving 78868 citations. The topic is also known as: potential.

A Classification of scalar field potentials with cosmological scaling solutions

Abstract: An attractive method of obtaining an effective cosmological constant at the present epoch is through the potential energy of a scalar field. Considering models with a perfect fluid and a scalar field, we classify all potentials for which the scalar field energy density scales as a power law of the scale factor when the perfect fluid density dominates. There are three possibilities. The first two are well known; the much-investigated exponential potentials have the scalar field mimicking the evolution of the perfect fluid, while for negative power laws, introduced by Ratra and Peebles, the scalar field density grows relative to that of the fluid. The third possibility is a new one, where the potential is a positive power law and the scalar field energy density decays relative to the perfect fluid. We provide a complete analysis of exact solutions and their stability properties, and investigate a range of possible cosmological applications.

CERN LHC phenomenology of an extended standard model with a real scalar singlet

Abstract: Gauge singlet extensions of the standard model (SM) scalar sector may help remedy its theoretical and phenomenological shortcomings while solving outstanding problems in cosmology. Depending on the symmetries of the scalar potential, such extensions may provide a viable candidate for the observed relic density of cold dark matter or a strong first order electroweak phase transition needed for electroweak baryogenesis. Using the simplest extension of the SM scalar sector with one real singlet field, we analyze the generic implications of a singlet-extended scalar sector for Higgs boson phenomenology at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We consider two broad scenarios: one in which the neutral SM Higgs and singlet mix and the other in which no mixing occurs and the singlet can be a dark matter particle. For the first scenario, we analyze constraints from electroweak precision observables and their implications for LHC Higgs phenomenology. For models in which the singlet is stable, we determine the conditions under which it can yield the observed relic density, compute the cross sections for direct detection in recoil experiments, and discuss the corresponding signatures at the LHC.

Feynman Integrals and the Schrödinger Equation

Abstract: Feynman integrals, in the context of the Schrodinger equation with a scalar potential, are defined by means of an analytic continuation in the mass parameter from the corresponding Wiener integrals. The method yields a new interpretation of highly singular attractive potentials in quantum mechanics. For the example of the attractive 1/r2 potential, this interpretation agrees with classical mechanics in the correspondence limit.