Cosmological model due to dimensional reduction of higher-dimensional massive gravity theory

We propose a new higher-dimensional mechanism for solving the Hierarchy Problem. The Weak scale is generated from a large scale of order the Planck scale through an exponential hierarchy. However, this exponential arises not from gauge interactions but from the background metric (which is a slice of AdS_5 spacetime). This mechanism relies on the existence of only a single additional dimension. We demonstrate a simple explicit example of this mechanism with two three-branes, one of which contains the Standard Model fields. The experimental consequences of this scenario are new and dramatic. There are fundamental spin-2 excitations with mass of weak scale order, which are coupled with weak scale as opposed to gravitational strength to the standard model particles. The phenomenology of these models is quite distinct from that of large extra dimension scenarios; none of the current constraints on theories with very large extra dimensions apply. Show more

Conventional wisdom states that Newton's force law implies only four non-compact dimensions. We demonstrate that this is not necessarily true in the presence of a non-factorizable background geometry. The specific example we study is a single 3-brane embedded in five dimensions. We show that even without a gap in the Kaluza-Klein spectrum, four-dimensional Newtonian and general relativistic gravity is reproduced to more than adequate precision. Show more

We present observations of 10 type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) between 0.16 0) and a current acceleration of the expansion (i.e., q_0 0, the spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia are consistent with q_0 0 at the 3.0 sigma and 4.0 sigma confidence levels, for two fitting methods respectively. Fixing a ``minimal'' mass density, Omega_M=0.2, results in the weakest detection, Omega_Lambda>0 at the 3.0 sigma confidence level. For a flat-Universe prior (Omega_M+Omega_Lambda=1), the spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia require Omega_Lambda >0 at 7 sigma and 9 sigma level for the two fitting methods. A Universe closed by ordinary matter (i.e., Omega_M=1) is ruled out at the 7 sigma to 8 sigma level. We estimate the size of systematic errors, including evolution, extinction, sample selection bias, local flows, gravitational lensing, and sample contamination. Presently, none of these effects reconciles the data with Omega_Lambda=0 and q_0 > 0. Show more