Gravity and Extra Dimensions.ppt

Gravity and Extra Dimensions José Santiago Theory Group (Fermilab) Outline Introduction Breakthrough: Braneworld gravity Understanding the Acceleration of the Universe Infinite Extra Dimensions: DGP Higher Codimension Branes and SUSY: SLED Conclusions Introduction Once upon a time (1920s) Kaluza and Klein tried to unify gravity and electromagnetism in 5 dimensions The idea did not work .... Gravity couples universally to energy ... and was forgotten for many years Introduction New motivation for Extra Dimensions came from string theory (1980s) 6 extra dimensions are predicted in consistent string models They were considered to be tiny small Braneworld Gravity String theory motivated a breakthrough in gravity and extra dimensions (1990s) Braneworld Gravity Braneworld gravity allows many new possibilities Braneworld Gravity Braneworld gravity allows many new possibilities Understanding the Acceleration of the Universe The Universe is currently accelerating All cosmological data agrees very well with a cosmological constant It’s 60 orders of magnitude smaller than expected! Dvali-Gabadadze-Porratti Model Dvali-Gabadadze-Porratti Model DGP Cosmology Modified Friedman equation with two branches Comparison with Experiment Flat DGP excluded by geometrical probes Caveats There is an intrinsic strong coupling in the model Difficult to compute solutions valid at all scales Ghosts (negative energy states) present in linear perturbations around the selfaccelerating branch The model may have problems with a local, causal, unitary UV completion Might be solved at the non-linear level Not obvious solution (yet) to the cosmological constant problem Generalizations of DGP Let us consider a more general model with a negative bulk cosmological constant and two branes with arbitrary tensions and localized curvature terms We can have (Anti) de Sitter or flat branes at an arbitrary separation Bulk curvature can help understand problems Generalizations of DGP We