Particle level screening of scalar forces in 1+1 dimensions

Burrage, Clare; Elder, Benjamin; Millington, Peter

Abstract

We investigate how nonlinear scalar field theories respond to point sources. Taking the symmetron as a specific example of such a theory, we solve the nonlinear equation of motion in one spatial dimension for (i) an isolated point source and (ii) two identical point sources with arbitrary separation. We find that the mass of a single point source can be screened by the symmetron field, provided that its mass is above a critical value. We find that two point sources behave as independent, isolated sources when the separation between them is large, but, when their separation is smaller than the symmetron’s Compton wavelength, they behave much like a single point source with the same total mass. Finally, we explore closely related behavior in a toy Higgs-Yukawa model and find indications that the maximum fermion mass that can be generated consistently via a Yukawa coupling to the Higgs in 1+1 dimensions is roughly the mass of the Higgs itself, with potentially intriguing implications for the hierarchy problem.

Citation

Burrage, C., Elder, B., & Millington, P. (2019). Particle level screening of scalar forces in 1+1 dimensions. Physical Review D, 99(2), Article 024045. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.99.024045

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 27, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jan 30, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 30, 2019
• Deposit Date: Feb 5, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 6, 2019
• Journal: Physical Review D
• Print ISSN: 2470-0010
• Electronic ISSN: 2470-0029
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 99
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 024045
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.99.024045
• Keywords: Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1520613
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.99.024045
• Contract Date: Feb 6, 2019