Suggestions of a late-time phantom crossing from DESI baryon acoustic oscillation measurements, combined with cosmic microwave background and Type-Ia supernova observations, have renewed interest in non-standard dark energy models. In this Letter, we propose a new realization of a low redshift phantom crossing using only well understood ingredients from fermion condensation and general...
We discuss the ultraviolet fixed point of asymptotically safe dilaton quantum gravity. It differs from the Reuter fixed point by the dependence of the Planck mass on a scalar field. The gauge invariant functional flow equation in the most general approximation with up to two derivatives strengthens the argument for the existence of this fixed point. The quantum effective action obtained from...
We use modular symmetry as an organizing principle that attempts to simultaneously address the lepton flavor puzzle, inflation, and post-inflationary reheating. We demonstrate this approach using the finite modular group $A_4$ in the lepton sector. In our model, neutrino masses are generated via the Type-I see-saw mechanism, with modular symmetry dictating the form of the Yukawa couplings and...
Equal-time in-in correlation functions are important observables for cosmological models and quantum field theories. In this talk, I will first explore how the Wilsonian renormalization group and effective field theory (EFT) apply to these observables in both flat and de Sitter space. Specifically, matching the UV and IR requires additional terms not captured by conventional EFT. These terms...
The Standard Model (SM) gauge theory with dynamical matter fields possesses an electric one-form $\mathbb{Z}_{6}$ symmetry, characterized by its action on Wilson line operators. At finite temperature, compactification on the thermal circle gives rise to a corresponding 0-form symmetry, whose spontaneous breaking can lead to the formation of domain walls. In this talk, I will focus on its...
