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Higgs Seesaw Mechanism as a Source for Dark Energy

Lawrence M. Krauss and James B. Dent
Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 061802 – Published 7 August 2013

Abstract

Motivated by the seesaw mechanism for neutrinos which naturally generates small neutrino masses, we explore how a small grand-unified-theory-scale mixing between the standard model Higgs boson and an otherwise massless hidden sector scalar can naturally generate a small mass and vacuum expectation value for the new scalar which produces a false vacuum energy density contribution comparable to that of the observed dark energy dominating the current expansion of the Universe. This provides a simple and natural mechanism for producing the correct scale for dark energy, even if it does not address the long-standing question of why much larger dark energy contributions are not produced from the visible sector. The new scalar produces no discernible signatures in existing terrestrial experiments so that one may have to rely on other cosmological tests of this idea.

  • Received 13 June 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.061802

© 2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Lawrence M. Krauss*

  • School of Earth and Space Exploration and Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1404, USA
  • Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2614, Australia

James B. Dent

  • Department of Physics, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana 70504-4210, USA

  • *krauss@asu.edu
  • jbdent@louisiana.edu

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Issue

Vol. 111, Iss. 6 — 9 August 2013

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