Gravity waves could hold key to supersymmetry

November 5, 2008 By Miranda Marquit

(PhysOrg.com) -- "In Geneva," Anupam Mazumdar tells PhysOrg.com, "there is a big effort to discover supersymmetry particles at the Large Hadron Collider. But that is not the only way to find these particles. We should also be able to see supersymmetry in the sky through the observation of gravitational waves."

Mazumdar, a physicist at Lancaster University in Britain, worked with Alex Kusenko at the University of California, Los Angeles to simulate what kind of frequency distribution would result from the fragmentation of unstable scalar condensate. The two say that a number of devices, including the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and the Big Bank Observer (BBO), would be able to detect the gravitational waves they describe in “Gravitational waves from fragmentation of a primordial scalar condensate into Q-balls,” which has been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters.

Supersymmetry is speculated to go beyond the standard model of physics to introduce particles that solve some of the problems that cannot be solved using only the particles that have been observed thus far. In supersymmetry, the standard particles we are familiar with have superpartners that differ from the standard by half a unit of spin. For example, the superpartners of standard model fermions are s-fermions.

“The gravity wave is fundamental to theory from Einstein,” Mazumdar says. “But we have not yet seen it in the frequencies described. However, primordial inflation is one of the many cosmic sources that could produce these waves.” The gravitational waves described by Mazumdar and Kusenko begin as a condensate formed in the early universe of s-fermions.

“At a certain point,” Mazumdar explains, “the condensate starts oscillating due to the presence of scalar, s-fermion, masses, whose masses are roughly determined by the scale of supersymmetry breaking. Due to the inherent nature of quantum corrections the condensate is not absolutely stable and fragments during the coherent oscillations. The fragmentation process leads to the formation of non-topological solitons, known as Q-balls. Since the fragmentation process is so violent and anisotropic, it excites gravity waves.” These waves, he says, have an amplitude and frequency detectable by LIGO.

Mazumdar says that, while many hope to find evidence of supersymmetry when the LHC is fully operational, it is not the only place where one can look for the signs of supersymmetric particles. Besides, he points out, evidence of supersymmetry may not be found at the LHC. Looking to the cosmos, then, would be another option. This is where the sophisticated cosmological observation devices – especially LIGO – come in. “Our model shows frequencies exactly where LIGO is sensitive,” he says. “We also show a place where the frequency would be distinguishable from binaries, black holes and pulsars, which would also form gravity waves.”

“The frequency we show has a broader spectrum, and its uniqueness would provide evidence of this s-fermion condensate,” he continues. “Such a condensate could have also inflated the primordial universe, while explaining the origin of tiny perturbations in the cosmic microwave background radiation.”

However, Mazumdar admits, it may take some time to detect these waves and take the observations. “We’re hoping to detect these in four to five years at LIGO,” he says. “Scientists may find evidence of supersymmetry at the LHC, but we are hoping to find links to it in cosmology.”

Article reference: Kusenko, Alexander and Anupam, Mazumdar “Gravitational waves from fragmentation of a primordial scalar condensate into Q-balls” http://arxiv.org/abs/0807.4554.

Copyright 2007 PhysOrg.com.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of PhysOrg.com.


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  • stuntmonkey - Nov 05, 2008
    • Rank: 4.4 / 5 (9)
    Minor nitpick: It should be "gravitational waves" in the title, not "gravity waves". Gravity waves are something very different; see Wikipedia.
  • Alizee - Nov 05, 2008
    • Rank: 1.8 / 5 (12)
    While the Universe appears like collapsar from outside perspective, the omnidirectional space-time expansion can be interpreted as a thickening of its material (which is forming the vacuum for us) during collapse. The energy is moving by slower speed through vacuum, which we can perceive as a expansion of space-time. Therefore by AWT the microwave photons (CMB) are both bosons (gravitons) cooled during inflation, both gravitational waves (gravitons) heated during Universe collapse - these intepretations differs by observational perspective only.
  • brant - Nov 05, 2008
    • Rank: 3.4 / 5 (5)
    When are they going to detect gravity waves?
  • JIMBO - Nov 06, 2008
    • Rank: 4.8 / 5 (4)
    Lets get real: SUSY was invented over 30 yrs ago. Over 20 yrs of `Desparately Seeking SUSY'. NOTHING has ever been found.
    Indeed, mSSM has grossly failed in the recent B_s switching rate measurements at Fermilab.
    CDM-II has found no evidence of SUSY-WIMPS.
    Now, in desparation that the LHC will come up dry, they turn to astronomy & `gravitinos'. And failing that, they'll simply raise the bar (aka shell game), and declare that the SUSY breaking scale is merely too high to be seen at LHC.
    To date, well over 10,000 papers exploring SUSY theoretically & experimentally, not to mention as papers on super-string theory, critically built on SUSY's veracity. 1000's of grad students, postdox,& professors have built careers on SUSY's back. ALL may come crashing down if contrary evidence surfaces.
    There is a helluva lot riding on this monstrously complex theory, with new papers on the arxiv submitted everyday...I predict that soon, LHC chickens will come home to roost for SUSY proponents, and physicists will once again realize that mathematical `beauty' is not any guarantee of physical reality.
  • Alexa - Nov 07, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    The same is true about (supers)string theories, with the exception, some of these theories are forty years old and they were not just left unconfirmed - but even refused by surprisingly high number of experiments at the moment, they can supply some testable predictions. Which usually cannot.

    http://physicswor...ws/17025
    http://physicswor...nt/30964
    http://physicswor...nt/21822
  • Atomsview - Nov 07, 2008
    • Rank: 1 / 5 (2)
    Soon an experiment will be done under the names of CERN, DAPNIA and ALPHA, to test the attraction or repulsion of antihydrogen by earth's gravity. If the result is repulsion, the mystery of dark energy is answered. A theory explains the electrical nature of gravity, and there are no gravity waves.
  • Alizee - Nov 07, 2008
    • Rank: 1.5 / 5 (2)
    By AWT every density blob behaves like mercury droplet and it alternates a repulsive and attractive forces with distance from 3D space perspective. From this perspective the existence of dark matter and repulsive gravity isn't problem. But I don't understand, why the positive gravity charge and electrical nature of gravity should exclude the existence of gravitational waves.

    While the dark matter can hide a lot of missing antimatter "missing" from Big Bang times, what we already know, the dark matter exhibits the very same gravitational lensing, like ordinary matter. Why it should attract the light and to repulse the ordinary matter?
  • Atomsview - Nov 07, 2008
    • Rank: 1 / 5 (2)
    DAPNIA is aware of a theory of gravitational repulsion between matter and antimatter. Matter and antimatter are composed of charged particles. Orbiting particles (electrons or positrons) block electrical fields between nuclei of atoms per Gauss's law. These eclipses causes net electrical forces (gravity).
  • hibiscus - Nov 09, 2008
    • Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
    What you need and everything you'll feel
    Is just a question of the deal
    In the eye of the storm you'll see a lonely dove
    The experience of survival is the key
    To the gravity of love
  • Velanarris - Nov 12, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    DAPNIA is aware of a theory of gravitational repulsion between matter and antimatter. Matter and antimatter are composed of charged particles. Orbiting particles (electrons or positrons) block electrical fields between nuclei of atoms per Gauss's law. These eclipses causes net electrical forces (gravity).


    Gravity isn't an electrical force.
  • Atomsview - Nov 13, 2008
    • Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
    If the results of the experiment on antihydrogen is repulsion, gravity has a repulsive force between matter and antimatter. Thw experiment is being done by CERN (ALPHA, AD) abd DAPNIA. This explains dark energy and the mystery of missing antimatter. CERN, Los ALamos Lab. DAPNIA have a theory that details the new theory of gravity, it is electrical in nature.

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