Particle Physics

The balloon-borne Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) experiment has measured the cosmic-ray electron spectrum over the energy range from 20 GeV to 3 TeV. The totally active Bismuth Germanate (BGO) calorimeter provides energy measurements with resolution of ~2%. The finely segmented Silicon matrix provides charge measurements with an excellent resolution of ~0.2 e. Below 100 GeV, the ATIC spectrum agrees with previous data and with a calculated spectrum based on a conventional galactic propagation model. Above ~100 GeV the results depart from the calculated spectrum and show an excess electron flux up to about 650 GeV, above which the spectrum drops rapidly. The source of this electron surplus would need to be a previously unidentified and relatively nearby cosmic object within ~1 kilo parsec of the Sun. It could be an astrophysical source, but it might also result from annihilation of dark matter particles. The measurement technique, and the implication of the results will be discussed.

New results on the antiproton-to-proton and positron-to-all electron ratios over a wide energy range (1 – 100 GeV) have been obtained by the PAMELA mission. These data are mainly interpreted in terms of dark matter annihilation or pulsar contribution. The instrument PAMELA, in orbit since June 15th, 2006 on board the Russian satellite Resurs DK1, is daily delivering to ground 16 Gigabytes of data. The apparatus is designed to study charged particles in the cosmic radiation, with a particular focus on antiparticles for searching antimatter and signals of dark matter annihilation. A combination of a magnetic spectrometer and different detectors allows antiparticles to be reliably identified from a large background of other charged particles. This talk reviews the design of the apparatus and illustrates the most recent scientific results obtained by PAMELA, together to some of the recent theoretical interpretations. In particular new data on antiprotons, protons, positrons, electrons absolute fluxes will be presented.

I will give account of a work in progress in which I attempt to modify the metric-manifold structure of GR in the infra-red. The proposed modification does not contain any massive parameter as it is effective at length scales comparable with the inverse (extrinsic) curvature. The guiding line for this modification is an "ultra-strong" equivalence principle, according to which even semi-classical gravitational effects (i.e. particle production) are definitely banned from a sufficiently small free-falling elevator. Some cosmological consequences of this modification will be discussed.

The currently accelerating Hubble expansion is in accord with the old heuristic prediction, from causal set theory, of a fluctuating and ever-present cosmological "constant''. More recently, a phenomenological model based on certain of the ideas behind the prediction has been devised, but it remains incomplete. I will review these developments and also mention a possible consequence for the dimensionality of spacetime.

Normalizing the Einstein-Hilbert action by the volume functional makes the theory invariant under constant shifts in the Lagrangian. The field equations then resemble unimodular gravity whose otherwise arbitrary cosmological constant is now determined as a Machian universal average. We first prove that an empty space-time is necessarily flat, and then demonstrate, by invoking the scalar field paradigm, that the cosmological constant is actually zero. Normalized general relativistic cosmology is then discussed at the mini-superspace level, where we confirm the generic zero cosmological constant result, and furthermore prove that if matter is attractive then the Universe cannot be closed. The only non-vanishing cosmological constant solutions are associated with static Einstein-like closed universes.