McGill.CA / Science / Department of Physics

Theory HEP Seminar

No-boundary measure in string theory

DongHan Yum

CQUeST

We investigate the no-boundary measure in the context of moduli stabilization. To this end, we first show that for exponential potentials, there are no classical histories once the slope exceeds a critical value. We also investigate the probability distributions given by the no-boundary wave-function near maxima of the potential. These results are then applied to a simple model that compactifies 6D to 4D (HBSV model) with fluxes. We find that the no-boundary wavefunction effectively stabilizes the moduli of the model. Moreover, we find the a priori probability for the cosmological constant in this model. We find that a negative value is preferred, and a vanishing cosmological constant is not distinguished by the probability measure.

Tuesday, April 10th 2012, 13:00
Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, room 326