A heavy fourth generation with a mass of the order of 400 GeV or more could trigger dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking by forming condensates through the exchange of a fundamental Higgs scalar doublet. The dynamics leading to these condensates is studied within the framework of the Schwinger-Dyson equation. This scenario leads to the presence of {\em three} (two composite and one fundamental) Higgs doublets, with interesting phenomenological implications. In addition, this dynamical phenomenon occurs in the vicinity of the energy scale where the restoration of scale symmetry might happen.
We calculate the contributions to electroweak precision observables (EWPOs) due to a fourth generation of fermions with the most general (quark-)flavour structure (but assuming Dirac neutrinos and a trivial flavour structure in the lepton sector). The new-physics contributions to the EWPOs are calculated at one-loop order using automated tools (FeynArts/FormCalc). No further approximations are made in our calculation. We discuss the size of non-oblique contributions arising from Z--quark--anti-quark vertex corrections and the dependence of the EWPOs on all CKM mixing angles involving the fourt…
In models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking due to strongly coupled fourth-family quarks and leptons, their low-energy effective descriptions may involve multiple composite Higgs fields, leading to a possibility that the electroweak phase transition at finite temperature is first order due to the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. We examine the behavior of the electroweak phase transition based on the effective renormalizable Yukawa theory which consists of the fourth-family quarks and two SU(2)-doublet Higgs fields corresponding to the bilinear operators of the fourth-family quarks with/wi…
We propose a dynamical model with a (2 + 1)-structure of composite Higgs doublets: two nearly degenerate composites of the fourth family quarks t' and b', $Φ_{t^{\prime}} \sim \bar{t^{\prime}}_{R}(t^{\prime},b^{\prime})_L$ and $Φ_{b^{\prime}} \sim \bar{b^{\prime}}_{R}(t^{\prime},b^{\prime})_L$, and a heavier top-Higgs resonance $Φ_t \sim \bar{t}_{R}(t,b)_L$. This model naturally describes both the top quark mass and the electroweak symmetry breaking. Also, a dynamical mechanism providing the quark mass hierarchy can be reflected in the model. The properties of these composites are analyzed in …
We perform a global fit of the parameters of the Standard Model with a sequential fourth generation (SM4) to LHC and Tevatron Higgs data and electroweak precision data. Using several likelihood ratio tests we compare the performance of the SM4 and SM3 at describing the measured data. Since the SM3 and SM4 are not nested (i.e. the SM3 can not be considered as a special case of the SM4 with some parameters fixed) the usual analytical formulae for p-values in likelihood ratio tests do not hold. We thus apply a new method to compute these p-values. For a Higgs mass of 126.5 GeV and fourth-generati…
We analyse the impact of LHC and Tevatron Higgs data on the viability of the Standard Model with a sequential fourth generation (SM4), assuming Dirac neutrinos and a Higgs mass of 125 GeV. To this end we perform a combined fit to the signal cross sections of pp -> H -> gamma gamma,ZZ*,WW* at the LHC, to p pbar -> VH -> V b bbar (V = W, Z) at the Tevatron and to the electroweak precision observables. Fixing the mass of the fourth generation down-type quark b' to 600 GeV we find best-fit values of m_t' = 632 GeV, m_l4 = 113.6 GeV and m_nu4 = 58.0 GeV for the other fourth-generation fermion masse…
We consider implications of a fourth generation of leptons, allowing for the most general mass patterns for the fourth generation neutrino. We determine the constraints due to the precision electroweak measurements and outline the signatures to search for at the LHC experiments. As a concrete framework to apply these results we consider the minimal walking technicolor (MWTC) model where the matter content, regarding the electroweak quantum numbers, corresponds to a fourth generation.
Adding a fourth generation to the Standard Model and assuming it to be valid up to some cutoff Λ, we show that electroweak symmetry is broken by radiative corrections due to the fourth generation. The effects of the fourth generation are isolated using a Lagrangian with a genuine scalar without self-interactions at the classical level. For masses of the fourth generation consistent with electroweak precision data (including the B \rightarrow K π CP asymmetries) we obtain a Higgs mass of the order of a few hundreds GeV and a cutoff Λ around 1-2 TeV. We study the reliability of the perturbative …
We present a comparative study of radiative electroweak symmetry breaking and conventional standard model breaking, and pose the question whether experiments can distinguish one breaking mode from the other. The importance of the problem lies in the fact that the two breaking modes have very different physical interpretations concerning the mechanism of spontaneous electroweak symmetry breaking and the origin of mass.
We review the possibilities that the Kaluza-Klein excitations of graviton states induce electroweak symmetry breaking and that electroweak symmetry breaking could have a large impact on KK phenomenology.
By assuming the existence of the sequential fourth generation to the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), we study the possibility of a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition. We find that there is a parameter region of the MSSM where the electroweak phase transition is strongly first order. In that parameter region, the mass of the lighter scalar Higgs boson is calculated to be above the experimental lower bound, and the scalar quarks of the third and the fourth generations are heavier than the corresponding quarks.
We explore the viability of baryogenesis from light scalar decays after the electroweak phase transition. A minimal model of this kind is constructed with new CP violating interactions involving a heavy fourth family. The departure from thermal equilbrium must come from topological defects like cosmic strings, and we show that almost any mechanism for producing the cosmic strings at the electroweak scale results in a viable theory. Baryogenesis occurs in the fourth generation but the baryon number is later transported to the visible generations. This mechanism of indirect baryogenesis allows u…
In general, an effective low-energy Lagrangian model of composite electroweak symmetry breaking contains soliton solutions that may be identified with technibaryons. We recall how the masses of such states may be related to the coefficients of fourth-order terms in the effective Lagrangian, and review the qualitative success of this approach for baryons in QCD. We then show how the current theoretical and phenomenological constraints on the corresponding fourth-order coefficients in the electroweak theory could be used to estimate qualitative lower and upper bounds on the lightest electroweak …
We introduce the idea of bosonic see-saw mechanism in analogy with the see-saw mechanism. Bosonic see-saw is a new symmetry breaking mechanism and we apply it to explain electroweak symmetry breaking as an inevitable consequence of supersymmetry breaking. The breaking of electroweak symmetry occurs at tree level once supersymmetry is broken. Absence of color/charge breaking in this model is related to doublet-triplet splitting in grand unified theory. An extension of MSSM with a weak triplet shows very interesting results especially when mu =0. It provides the most natural understanding of why…
We introduce in an arbitrary supersymmetric version of the standard model without elementary scalars a logarithmic operator which is irrelevant in the limit in which all symmetries are respected. However through a dynamical mechanism of the Nambu Jona Lasinio type this operator may produce two fermion vacuum condensates that may account for electroweak and contribute to supersymmetry breaking. Some of the phenomenological consequences of this set-up are discussed.
These three lectures review the state of our understanding of electroweak interactions and the search for the agent of electroweak symmetry breaking. The themes of the lectures are (i) the electroweak theory and its experimental status, (ii) the standard-model Higgs boson, and (iii) aspects of electroweak theory beyond the standard SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y model.
This review provides an elementary discussion of electroweak symmetry breaking in the minimal and the next-to-minimal supersymmetric models with the focus on the fine-tuning problem -- the tension between natural electroweak symmetry breaking and the direct search limit on the Higgs boson mass. Two generic solutions of the fine-tuning problem are discussed in detail: models with unusual Higgs decays; and models with unusual pattern of soft supersymmetry breaking parameters.
We review the mechanism of radiative electroweak symmetry breaking taking place in SUSY versions of the standard model. We further discuss different proposals for the origin of SUSY-breaking and the corresponding induced SUSY-breaking soft terms. Several proposals for the understanding of the little hierarchy problem are critically discussed.
The Higgs boson offers a unique window to hidden sector fields S_i, singlets under the Standard Model gauge group, via the renormalizable interactions |H|^2 S_i^2. We prove that such interactions can provide new patterns for electroweak breaking, including radiative breaking by dimensional transmutation consistent with LEP bounds, and trigger the strong enough first order phase transition required by electroweak baryogenesis.
We study the impact of LEP2 constraints on the dimensionless coefficients of the electroweak chiral Lagrangian on the precision observables using the improved renormalization group equations. We find that the current uncertainty in the triple and quartic gauge boson couplings can accommodate electroweak symmetry breaking models with $S(Λ=1 \textrm{TeV}) > 0$.
We investigate scenarios in which electroweak baryogenesis can occur during an exotic stage of electroweak symmetry breaking in the early Universe. This transition is driven by the expectation value of a new electroweak scalar instead of the standard Higgs field. A later, second transition then takes the system to the usual electroweak minimum, dominated by the Higgs, while preserving the baryon asymmetry created in the first transition. We discuss the general requirements for such a two-stage electroweak transition to be suitable for electroweak baryogenesis and present a toy model that illus…
We review the status of models of electroweak symmetry breaking in a slice of anti--de Sitter space. These models can be thought of as dual to strongly interacting theories of the electroweak scale. After an introduction to some generic issues in bulk theories in AdS5, we concentrate on the model-building of the Higgs sector.
We argue that classical scale invariance provides a technically natural solution to the problem of the radiative stability of the electroweak scale. Some realistic electroweak scale-invariant models are considered and their possible manifestations at the LHC are briefly discussed.
Within the framework of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, we consider an electroweak symmetry breaking pattern in which there is no conventional $μ$ term. The pattern is made appealing through realizing it as low energy effective description of a supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory which is of confinement. Phenomenological implications are discussed.
We present an introduction to the basic concepts of electroweak symmetry breaking and Higgs physics within the Standard Model and its supersymmetric extensions. A brief overview will also be given on alternative mechanisms of electroweak symmetry breaking. In addition to the theoretical basis, the present experimental status of Higgs physics and prospects at the Tevatron, the LHC and e+e- linear colliders are discussed.
Within an AdS/CFT inspired model of electroweak symmetry breaking the effects of various boundary terms and modifications to the background are studied. The effect on the S precision parameter is discussed with particular attention to its sign and whether the theory is unitary when S<0. Connections between the various possible AdS slice models of symmetry breaking are discussed.
We construct and analyze an ultraviolet extension of a model in which electroweak symmetry breaking is due to both technifermion and top-quark condensates. The model includes dynamical mechanisms for all of the various gauge symmetry breakings. We discuss certain aspects in which it requires additional ingredients to be more realistic.
We briefly review the recent developments of probing the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism at high energy colliders such as the CERN LEP2, the Fermilab Tevatron, the CERN LHC and the e(+)e(-) linear colliders. Both weakly interacting and strongly interacting electroweak symmetry breaking mechanisms are concerned.
We revisit four generations within the context of supersymmetry. We compute the perturbativity limits for the fourth generation Yukawa couplings and show that if the masses of the fourth generation lie within reasonable limits of their present experimental lower bounds, it is possible to have perturbativity only up to scales around 1000 TeV, i.e. the current experimental bounds and perturbative unification are mutually exclusive. Such low scales are ideally suited to incorporate gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, where the mediation scale can be as low as 10-20 TeV. The minimal messenger m…
Dynamical breaking of the electroweak theory, i.e. technicolor, is an intriguing extension of the Standard Model. Recently new models have been proposed featuring walking dynamics for a very low number of techniflavors. These technicolor extensions are not ruled out by current precision measurements. Here I first motivate the idea of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking and then summarize some of the properties of the recent models and their possible cosmological implications.
In this note I provide a brief description of models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking, including walking technicolor, top-color assisted technicolor, the top-quark seesaw model, and little higgs theories.
An introduction to the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking is given. We discuss Higgs boson production in $e^+e^-$ and hadronic collisions and survey search techniques at present and future accelerators. Indirect limits on the Higgs boson mass from triviality arguments, vacuum stability, and precision electroweak measurements are presented. An effective Lagrangian, valid when there is no low mass Higgs boson, is used to discuss the physics of a strongly interacting electroweak symmetry breaking sector. Finally, the Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric model are considered, along wit…
We revisit in some more detail a recent specific proposal for the breaking of the electroweak symmetry and of supersymmetry by a compact extra dimension. Possible mass terms for the Higgs and the matter hypermultiplets are considered and their effects on the spectrum analyzed. Previous conclusions are reinforced and put on firmer ground.
The origin of the fermion generations is discussed. A strong interactions spin $I_{S}$ is introduced which unifies the quarks and leptons as two multiplets of this spin. The electroweak vector bosons and gluons emerge as the fused states of these fermion multiplets.
The mechanism behind Electroweak Symmetry Breaking (EWSB) and the nature of dark matter (DM) are currently among the most important issues in high energy physics. Since a natural dark matter candidate is a weakly interacting massive particle or WIMP, with mass around the electroweak scale, it is clearly of interest to investigate the possibility that DM and EWSB are closely related. In the context of a very simple extension of the Standard Model, the Inert Doublet Model, we show that dark matter could play a crucial role in the breaking of the electroweak symmetry. In this model, dark matter i…
The study of a EW theory without spontaneous symmetry breaking is presented. A new symmetry breaking, axial-vector symmetry breaking, is found. M^{2}_{W}=1/2g^{2}m^{2}_{t}, m^{2}_{Z}=ρm^{2}_{W}/cos^{2} θ, and G_{F}=1/(2\sqrt{2}m^{2}_{t}) are obtained and they agree with data. It has been proved that the theory is renormalizable and unitary.
We argue that theories of strong electroweak symmetry breaking sector necessarily contain new spin 0 states at the TeV scale in the tbar-t and tbar-b/bbar-t channels, even if the third generation quarks are not composite at the TeV scale. These states couple sufficiently strongly to third generation quarks to have significant production at LHC via gg \to X or gb \to X. The existence of narrow resonances in QCD suggests that the strong electroweak breaking sector contains narrow resonances that decay to tbar-t or tbar-b/bbar-t, with significant branching fractions to 3 or more longitudinal W an…
In these lectures, I review the status of the electroweak sector of the Standard Model, with an emphasis on the importance of radiative corrections and searches for the Standard Model Higgs boson. A discussion of the special role of the TeV energy scale in electroweak physics is included.
We examine the Higgs mass parameters and electroweak symmetry breaking in supersymmetric orbifold field theories in which the 4-dimensional Higgs fields originate from higher-dimensional gauge supermultiplets. It is noted that such gauge-Higgs unification leads to a specific boundary condition on the Higgs mass parameters at the compactification scale, which is independent of the details of supersymmetry breaking mechanism. With this boundary condition, phenomenologically viable parameter space of the model is severely constrained by the condition of electroweak symmetry breaking for supersymm…
