Cosmological Constraints on Radion Evolution in the Universal Extra Dimension Model

TL;DR

This paper uses cosmic microwave background and supernova data to constrain how the size of extra dimensions, via the radion field, has evolved over cosmic time, providing limits on fundamental constant variations.

Contribution

It provides the first observational constraints on radion evolution in the Universal Extra Dimension model using CMB and SNe Ia data.

Findings

WMAP data constrains radion evolution at z~1100 to [-8.8, 6.6]×10^{-13} yr^{-1}.

SNe Ia data constrains radion evolution between redshift 0 and 1 to [-4.7, 14]×10^{-13} yr^{-1}.

Bounds on QCD scale variation are [-1.4, 2.8]×10^{-11} yr^{-1}.

Abstract

The constraints on the radion evolution in the Universal Extra Dimension (UED) model from Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) data are studied. In the UED model, where both the gravity and standard model fields can propagate in the extra dimensions, the evolution of the extra dimensional volume, the radion, induces variation of fundamental constants. We discuss the effects of variation of the relevant constants in the context of UED for CMB power spectrum and SNe Ia data. We then use the three-year WMAP data to constrain the radion evolution at z \sim 1100, and the 2 \sigma constraint on \dot{\rho} / \rho_0 (\rho is a function of the radion, to be defined in the text) is [ -8.8, 6.6] \times 10 ^{-13} yr^-1. The SNe Ia gold sample yields a constraint on \dot{\rho} / \rho_0, for redshift between 0 and 1, to be [-4.7, 14] \times 10^{-13} yr^-1. Furthermore, the constraints from SNe Ia can be interpreted as bounds on the evolution QCD scale parameter, \dot{\Lambda}_{QCD} / \Lambda_{QCD, 0}, [-1.4, 2.8] \times 10^{-11} yr^-1, without reference to the UED model.