Abstract
We show how masses for singlet fermions can be generated by interactions with a D-particle model of space-time foam inspired by brane theory. It has been shown previously by one of the authors (N.E.M.) such interactions may generate generate dynamically small masses for charged fermions via the recoils of D-particle defects interacting with photons. In this work we consider the direct interactions of D-particle with uncharged singlet fermions such as right-handed neutrinos. Quantum fluctuations of the lattice of D-particles have massless vector (spin-one) excitations that are analogues of phonons. These mediate forces between the singlet fermions, generating large dynamical masses that may be communicated to light neutrinos via the seesaw mechanism.
Highlights
AND MOTIVATIONIt is widely accepted that neutral singlet particles with no symmetries to protect them, such as right-handed neutrinos, will in general have very large masses that might approach the Planck mass at which quantum-gravitational effects become important
We show how masses for singlet fermions can be generated by interactions with a D-particle model of space-time foam inspired by brane theory
If the singlet fermions are Dirac, we find that the foam interactions can be described by the minimal Lorentz-violating effective action of [15], whereas if the singlet fermions are Majorana, as might be the case for right-handed neutrinos, they can be described by the Lorentz-violating low-energy effective action of [19]
Summary
It is widely accepted that neutral singlet particles with no symmetries to protect them, such as right-handed neutrinos, will in general have very large masses that might approach the Planck mass at which quantum-gravitational effects become important. The effective field theory model upon which this effect is based, onto which the D-foam/fermion/photon effective action is mapped at low energies, ignoring the nonlocal stringy structures of the D-particles, has been studied in a different context in [15] It was argued in [14] that the quantum fluctuations of the D-particle defects in target space lead to a novel correspondence principle, through which an antisymmetric tensor background field in phase space, representing the recoil velocity of the defect during its interaction with matter, is mapped [16] into a spatial derivative operator. ELLIS, MAVROMATOS, and NANOPOULOS along the direction of the recoil In this way, the resulting Finsler-type [17] Born-Infeld (FBI) Lagrangian that describes the low-energy dynamics of open strings on a brane world in interaction with the D-particles may be transformed into an effective Lagrangian with Lorentzviolating higher-order spatial-derivative terms, reproducing the minimal Lorentz-violating modification of quantum electrodynamics (QED) considered in [15].
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