In post LHC era the old idea of cosmological vacuum relaxation of the Higgs mass that does not require any new physics in the vicinity of LHC energies acquires a new meaning. I discuss how this concept of naturanless differs from the standard one by 't Hooft. Here the observed value of the Higgs mass corresponds to a vacuum of infinite degeneracy and infinite entropy. Therefore, it represents and attractor point of cosmic inflationary evolution. This information is unavailable for a low energy observer living in one of such vacua. By not seeing any stabilizing physics at LHC such an observer is puzzled and creates an artificial problem of naturalness which in reality does not exist. We explain why this solution is fully compatible with the concept of Wilsonian decoupling.
A non-technical discussion of the naturalness criterion and its implications for new physics searches at the LHC. To be published in the book "LHC Perspectives", edited by G. Kane and A. Pierce.
I review the status of naturalness of the weak scale after the results from the LHC operating at an energy of 8 TeV. Talk delivered at the 2013 Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics (EPS), Stockholm, Sweden, 18-24 July 2013.
With the Higgs boson discovery and no new physics found at the LHC, confidence in Naturalness as a guiding principle for particle physics is under increased pressure. We wait to see if it proves its mettle in the LHC upgrades ahead, and beyond. In the meantime, in a series of "realistic intellectual leaps" I present a justification {\it a posteriori} of the Naturalness criterion by suggesting that uncompromising application of the principle to quantum electrodynamics leads toward the Standard Model and Higgs boson without additional experimental input. Potential lessons for today and future th…
We present a general class of natural theories in which the Higgs is a pseudo-goldstone boson in an orbifolded gauge theory. The symmetry protecting the Higgs at low energies is an accidental global symmetry of the quadratic action, rather than a full continuous symmetry. The lightest degrees of freedom protecting the weak scale carry no Standard Model (SM) quantum numbers and interact with visible matter principally through the Higgs portal. We find that the twin Higgs is the simplest example of an orbifold Higgs. This opens the door to the systematic study of "neutral naturalness": natural t…
We show that naturalness of the weak scale can be comfortably reconciled with both LHC null results and observed Higgs properties provided the double protection of supersymmetry and the twin Higgs mechanism. This double protection radically alters conventional signs of naturalness at the LHC while respecting gauge coupling unification and precision electroweak limits. We find the measured Higgs mass, couplings, and percent-level naturalness of the weak scale are compatible with stops at ~3.5 TeV and higgsinos at ~1 TeV. The primary signs of naturalness in this scenario include modifications of…
The naturalness problem might be studied on the complex two dimensional plane with the technique of dimensional regularization(DREG). The Renormalization group equation(RGE) of the Higgs mass on the plane suggests the Higgs mass approaches zero at ultraviolate (UV) scale, the scale can be Planck scale when the top quark pole mass $M_{t}=168$ GeV. The real issue of the naturalness problem in the sense of Wilsonian renormalization group method is not about quadratic divergences but the rescaling effect. The Higgs mass can be considered to be one composed mass. All terms in the lagrangian in this…
Assuming the presence of physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) with a characteristic scale M ~ O(10) TeV, we investigate the naturalness of the Higgs sector at scales below M using an effective field theory (EFT) approach. We obtain the leading 1-loop EFT contributions to the Higgs mass with a Wilsonian-like hard cutoff, and determine the constraints on the corresponding operator coefficients for these effects to alleviate the little hierarchy problem up to the scale of the effective action Λ< M, a condition we denote by "EFT-naturalness". We also determine the types of physics that can lead …
The Principle of Naturalness of small parameters of a theory is reviewed. While quantum field theories constructed from gauge fields and fermions only are natural, those containing elementary scalar fields are not. In particular the Higgs boson mass in the Standard Model of electro-weak forces is not stable against radiative corrections. Two old canonical solutions of this problem are: (i) where the Higgs boson is a fermion-antifermion composite (technicolour solution) or otherwise (ii) we need supersymmetry to protect the mass of elementary Higgs boson from possible large radiative correction…
We study the implications of a criterion of naturalness for a simple two Higgs doublet model in the context of the discovery of a Higgs like particle with a mass at 125 GeV. This condition which measures the amount of fine tuning further limits the parameter space of this particular model and together with other phenomenological constraints leads to an allowed range of masses for the other neutral or charged Higgs bosons: H, a^{\pm}, a^0.
The natural cutoff scale for the quadratically divergent top quark contribution to the Higgs mass parameter can be significantly raised above the surprisingly low standard model value, with important consequences for the LHC: the physics that cancels the top quark divergence may be out of reach, while an electroweak sector with "improved naturalness" may be discovered. Such a sector, consistent with electroweak precision tests, arises in the two Higgs doublet model with heavy Higgs and top quark interactions that approach strong coupling.
Composite Higgs and neutral-naturalness models are popular scenarios in which the Higgs boson is a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson, and naturalness problem is addressed by composite top partners. Since the standard model effective field theory (SMEFT) with dimension-six operators cannot fully retain the information of Higgs nonlinearity due to its PNGB nature, we systematically construct low energy Lagrangian in which the information of compositeness and Higgs nonlinearity are encoded in the form factors, the two-point functions in the top sector. We classify naturalness conditions in various sce…
In the absence of low-energy supersymmetry, a multiplicity of weak-scale Higgs doublets would require additional fine-tunings unless they formed an irreducible multiplet of a non-abelian symmetry. Remnants of such symmetry typically render some Higgs fields stable, giving several dark matter particles of various masses. The non-abelian symmetry also typically gives simple, testable mass relations.
Many models of electroweak symmetry-breaking with an extended Higgs sector exhibit improved naturalness, wherein the new physics scale, at which quadratic divergences of Higgs mass parameters due to top quark loops are cut off, can be pushed beyond the reach of the Large Hadron Collider without unnatural fine tuning. Such models include examples where the new physics is supersymmetry, implying that supersymmetry may still solve the hierarchy problem, even if it eludes detection at the LHC.
We study Higgs boson couplings in the large-$λ$ version of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, known as $λ$-SUSY. We find that the predicted deviations from the Standard Model (SM) in these couplings are inversely correlated with the amount of fine-tuning needed to accommodate a 126 GeV Higgs. In the most natural regions of parameter space, the 126 GeV Higgs has large admixtures of both the SM-singlet and the non-SM Higgs doublet scalars, and such regions are already ruled out by the LHC. Future improvements in the Higgs coupling measurements will either discover deviations from…
Adopting a bottom-up point of view, we make a comparative study of the simplest extensions of the MSSM with extra tree level contributions to the lightest Higgs boson mass. We show to what extent a relatively heavy Higgs boson, up to 200-350 GeV, can be compatible with data and naturalness. The price to pay is that the theory undergoes some change of regime at a relatively low scale. Bounds on these models come from electroweak precision tests and naturalness, which often requires the scale at which the soft terms are generated to be relatively low.
We consider the renormalization group improvement in the theory of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson playing the role of an inflaton with a strong non-minimal coupling to gravity. At the one-loop level with the running of constants taken into account, it leads to a range of the Higgs mass that is entirely determined by the lower WMAP bound on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectral index. We find that the SM phenomenology is sensitive to current cosmological data, which suggests to perform more precise CMB measurements as a SM test complementary to the LHC program. By using the concep…
We critically examine the recent claim that the Standard Model Higgs boson ${\cal H}$ could drive inflation in agreement with observations if $|{\cal H}|^2$ has a strong coupling $ξ\sim 10^4$ to the Ricci curvature scalar. We first show that the effective theory approach upon which that claim is based ceases to be valid beyond a cutoff scale $Λ=m_p/ξ$, where $m_p$ is the reduced Planck mass. We then argue that knowing the Higgs potential profile for the field values relevant for inflation ($|{\cal H}|>m_p/\sqrtξ\gg Λ$) requires knowledge of the ultraviolet completion of the SM beyond $Λ$. In a…
The non-minimal Higgs-gravity coupling, $ξH^\dagger H R$, can play an interesting role in particle physics. We utilize the available LHC Run-2 data to obtain the bound on the coupling $ξ$ and discuss the prospects of constraining it at CEPC, FCC-ee and ILC. Also, we investigate its implication on the naturalness.
Motivated by the recent LHC Higgs data and null results in searches for any new physics, we investigate the Higgs couplings and naturalness in the littlest Higgs model with T-parity. By performing the global fit of the latest Higgs data, electroweak precise observables and $R_{b}$ measurements, we find that the scale $f$ can be excluded up to 600 GeV at $2σ$ confidence level. The expected Higgs coupling measurements at the future collider TLEP will improve this lower limit to above 3 TeV. Besides, the top parnter mass $m_{T_{+}}$ can be excluded up to 880 GeV at $2σ$ confidence level. The futu…
The Standard Model (SM), as the quantum field theory of the strong and electroweak interactions, needs be carried into curved spacetime to incorporate gravity. This is done here not for the full but for the effective SM action by integrating-in affine curvature. This approach leads to naturalization of the SM Higgs sector and reduction of the cosmological constant down to the neutrino scale thanks to the fact that quadratic (quartic) UV contributions to the Higgs boson mass (vacuum energy) turn into the Higgs-curvature coupling (the Einstein-Hilbert term). New physics beyond the SM, necessary …
Common lore has it that naturalness of electroweak breaking in the SM requires new physics (NP) at Lambda < 2-3 TeV, hopefully within the reach of LHC. Moreover the Higgs should be light (m_h < 219 GeV) to pass electroweak precision tests (EWPT). However one should be prepared for "unexpected" (although admittedly unpleasant) results at LHC, i.e. no NP and/or a heavy Higgs. We revisit recent attempts to accommodate this by modifying the SM Higgs sector (using 2-Higgs-doublet models). We find that these models do not improve the naturalness of the SM, and so they do not change the expectations …
We explore naturalness constraints on the masses of the heavy Higgs bosons H^0, H^+/-, and A^0 in supersymmetric theories. We show that, in any extension of MSSM which accommodates the 125 GeV Higgs at the tree level, one can derive an upper bound on the SUSY Higgs masses from naturalness considerations. As is well-known for the MSSM, these bounds become weak at large tan beta. However, we show that measurements of b to s gamma together with naturalness arguments lead to an upper bound on tan beta, strengthening the naturalness case for heavy Higgs states near the TeV scale. The precise bound …
We analyze the symmetry-breaking patterns of grand unified theories from the point of view of a recently-proposed criterion of renormalization-group naturalness. We perform the analysis on simple non-SUSY SU(5) and SO(10) and SUSY SU(5) GUTs. We find that the naturalness criterion can favor spontaneous-symmetry-breaking in the direction of the smallest of the maximal little groups. Some differences between theories with and without supersymmetry are also emphasized.
The Standard Model (SM) is usually considered to be unnatural because the scalar Higgs mass receives a quadratic divergent correction. We suggest a new way to solve the naturalness problem from point of view of renormalization group method. Our approach is illustrated through the familiar $ϕ^4$ theory. A renormalization group equation for scalar field mass is proposed by introducing a subtraction scale. We give a non-trivial prediction: the Higss mass at short-distance is a damping exponential function of the energy scale. It follows from a characteristic of the SM that the couplings to Higgs …
We present a supersymmetric model of electroweak symmetry-breaking exhibiting improved naturalness, wherein the stop mass can be pushed beyond the reach of the Large Hadron Collider without unnatural fine tuning. This implies that supersymmetry may still solve the hierarchy problem, even if it eludes detection at the LHC.
We explore the possibility of explaining the recent $\sim 750$ GeV excesses observed by ATLAS and CMS in the $γγ$ spectrum in the context of a compelling theory of Naturalness. The potential spin-zero resonance responsible for the excesses also requires the existence of new heavy charged states. We show that both such features are naturally realized in a see-saw Composite Higgs model for EWSB, where the new pseudo-Goldstone bosons are expected to be comparatively heavier than the SM Higgs, and the new fermions have masses in the TeV range. If confirmed, the existence of this new resonance coul…
A Standard-Model-like Higgs boson should be light in order to comply with electroweak precision measurements from LEP. We consider five-dimensional (5D) warped models -- with a deformation of the metric in the IR region -- as UV completions of the Standard Model with a heavy Higgs boson. Provided the Higgs boson propagates in the 5D bulk the Kaluza Klein (KK) modes of the gauge bosons can compensate for the Higgs boson contribution to oblique parameters while their masses lie within the range of the LHC. The little hierarchy between KK scale and Higgs mass essentially disappears and the natura…
The Higgs sector in neutral naturalness models provides a portal to the hidden sectors, and thus measurements of Higgs couplings at current and future colliders play a central role in constraining the parameter space of the model. We investigate a class of neutral naturalness models, in which the Higgs boson is a pseudo-Goldstone boson from the universal SO(N)/SO(N-1) coset structure. Integrating out the radial mode from the spontaneous global symmetry breaking, we obtain various dimension-six operators in the Standard Model effective field theory, and calculate the low energy Higgs effective …
We quantify the extent to which naturalness is lost as experimental lower bounds on the Higgs boson mass increase, and we compute the natural upper bound on the lightest supersymmetric Higgs boson mass. We find that it would be unnatural for the mass of the lightest supersymmetric Higgs boson to saturate it's maximal upper bound. In the absence of significant fine-tuning, the lightest Higgs boson mass should lie below $120$ GeV, and in the most natural cases it should be lighter than $108$ GeV. For modest $tan β$, these bounds are significantly lower. Our results imply that a failure to observ…
We study constraints on one-loop neutral naturalness at the LHC by considering gluon partners which are required to ameliorate the tuning in the Higgs mass-squared arising at two loops. This is done with a simple orbifold model of folded supersymmetry which not only contains color-neutral stops but also bifundamental gluinos that are charged under the Standard Model color group $SU(3)_C$ and a separate $SU(3)_C'$ group. The bifundamental gluinos reduce the Higgs mass tuning at two loops and maintain naturalness provided the gluinos are lighter than approximately 1.9 TeV for a 5 TeV cutoff scal…
We perform a forecast of the CMSSM for the LHC based in an improved Bayesian analysis taking into account the present theoretical and experimental wisdom about the model. In this way we obtain a map of the preferred regions of the CMSSM parameter space and show that fine-tuning penalization arises from the Bayesian analysis itself when the experimental value of Mz is considered. The results are remarkable stable when using different priors
We build a minimal neutral naturalness model in which the top partners are not charged under QCD, with a pseudo Goldstone Higgs arising from $SO(5)/SO(4)$ breaking. The color-neutral top partners generate the Higgs potential radiatively without quadratic divergence. The misalignment between the electroweak scale and global symmetry breaking scale is naturally obtained from suppression of the Higgs quadratic term, due to cancellation between singlet and doublet top partner contributions. This model can be embedded into ultraviolet holographic setup in composite Higgs framework, which even reali…
In the post-LHC8 world-- where a Standard Model-like Higgs boson has been established but there is no sign of supersymmetry (SUSY)-- the detailed profiling of the Higgs boson properties has emerged as an important road towards discovery of new physics. We present calculations of the expected deviations in Higgs boson couplings $κ_{τ,b}$, $κ_t$, $κ_{W,Z}$, $κ_g$ and $κ_γ$ versus the naturalness measure $Δ_{\rm EW}$. Low values of $Δ_{\rm EW}\sim 10-30$ give rise to a natural Little Hierarchy characterized by light higgsinos with a mass of $μ\sim m_Z$ while top squarks are highly mixed but lie i…
Solutions to the electroweak hierarchy problem typically introduce a new symmetry to stabilize the quadratic ultraviolet sensitivity in the self-energy of the Higgs boson. The new symmetry is either broken softly or collectively, as for example in supersymmetric and little Higgs theories. At low energies such theories contain naturalness partners of the Standard Model fields which are responsible for canceling the quadratic divergence in the squared Higgs mass. Post the discovery of any partner-like particles, we propose to test the aforementioned cancellation by measuring relevant Higgs coupl…
Naturalness of electroweak symmetry breaking in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric model points to scenarios in which the lightest CP-even Higgs boson has SM-like ZZh coupling and mass m_h ~ 100 GeV and decays partly via h -> b \bar b but dominantly into two CP-odd Higgs bosons, h -> aa, where m_a < 2m_b so that a -> tau+ tau- (or light quarks and gluons) decays are dominant. These preferred scenarios correlate well with the observed excess of events at LEP for m_h ~ 100 GeV.
We investigate naturalness in the Standard Model (SM) Higgs sector using effective field theory (EFT) techniques and find the requirements on the new heavy physics that can potentially cure the little hierarchy problem below a scale $Λ\gg O(1 ~{\rm TeV})$, assuming the new heavy particles have a mass larger than $ Λ$. In particular, we determine the conditions under which the 1-loop corrections to $ m_h $ from the heavy new physics can balance those created by SM loop effects up to the naturalness scale $Λ$, a condition we denote by "EFT Naturalness". We obtain the higher dimensional ($n \ge 5…
Recently, it has been argued that various measures of SUSY naturalness-- electroweak, Higgs mass and EENZ/BG-- when applied consistently concur with one another and make very specific predictions for natural supersymmetric spectra. Highly natural spectra are characterized by light higgsinos with mass not too far from m_h and well-mixed but TeV-scale third generation squarks. We apply the unified naturalness measure to the case of heavy Higgs bosons A, H and H^\pm. We find that their masses are bounded from above by naturalness depending on tan(beta): e.g. for 10% fine-tuning and tan(beta)~ 10,…
We study the mass of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson in the deflected mirage mediation that is a quite general framework of the mediation of supersymmetry breaking, incorporating the case where all of the modulus-, the anomaly- and the gauge-mediated contributions to the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters become sizable. We evaluate the degree of tuning the so-called mu parameter required for realizing a correct electroweak symmetry breaking and study how to accomplish both the observed Higgs boson mass and the relaxed fine-tuning. We identify the parameter space favored from such a persp…
Here we study naturalness problem in a type II seesaw model, and show that the Veltman condition modified (mVC) by virtue of the additional scalar charged states is satisfied at one loop within a region of the allowed parameter space of the model. The latter is severely constrained by unitarity and boundedness from below as well as by consistency with the diphoton Higgs decay data of the LHC run 1. In this context, our analysis of the naturalness condition affects dramatically the masses of heavy Higgs bosons $H^0$, $A^0$, $H^\pm$ and $H^{\pm\pm}$, reducing the ranges of variation of $m_{H^\pm…
We revisit the Twin Higgs scenario as a "dark" solution to the little hierarchy problem, identify the structure of a minimal model and its viable parameter space, and analyze its collider implications. In this model, dark naturalness generally leads to Hidden Valley phenomenology. The twin particles, including the top partner, are all Standard-Model-neutral, but naturalness favors the existence of twin strong interactions -- an asymptotically-free force that confines not far above the Standard Model QCD scale -- and a Higgs portal interaction. We show that, taken together, these typically give…
We rebut the recent claim (arXiv:0912.5463) that Einstein-frame scattering in the Higgs inflation model is unitary above the cut-off energy Lambda ~ Mp/xi. We show explicitly how unitarity problems arise in both the Einstein and Jordan frames of the theory. In a covariant gauge they arise from non-minimal Higgs self-couplings, which cannot be removed by field redefinitions because the target space is not flat. In unitary gauge, where there is only a single scalar which can be redefined to achieve canonical kinetic terms, the unitarity problems arise through non-minimal Higgs-gauge couplings.
The conjecture that some unknown symmetry is responsible for keeping the Higgs boson light at 125 GeV does not hold for the Standard Model, where the coefficient of the quadratic divergence of Higgs boson self-energy is far from zero. We show that such a cancellation can be achieved in two-Higgs doublet models, by virtue of which all the scalars remain at the electroweak scale and the naturalness problem is avoided. We explore the consequences of such cancellations in different two-Higgs doublet models with no flavour-changing neutral current, and show that the parameter space becomes tightly …
Many extensions of the Standard Model postulate the existence of new weakly coupled particles, the top partners, at or below the TeV scale. The role of the top partners is to cancel the quadratic divergence in the Higgs mass parameter due to top loops. We point out the generic correlation between naturalness (the degree of fine-tuning required to obtain the observed electroweak scale), and the size of top partner loop contributions to Higgs couplings to photons and gluons. If the fine-tuning is required to be at or below a certain level, a model-independent lower bound on the deviations of the…
We previously presented the minimal neutral naturalness model, in which neutral naturalness is realized with the minimal coset and the minimal field content in the color-neutral sector. To fully eliminating the cutoff dependence in the Higgs potential, its ultraviolet completion was laid out. In this work, we investigate in details the holographic realization in warped five-dimensional framework. Using the holographic method, we obtain the effective action on the UV brane and derive the finite Higgs potential, with the Higgs being a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson. The Higgs potential is fully ra…
Any new scalar fields that perturbatively solve the hierarchy problem by stabilizing the Higgs mass also generate new contributions to the Higgs field-strength renormalization, irrespective of their gauge representation. These new contributions are physical and their magnitude can be inferred from the requirement of quadratic divergence cancellation, hence they are directly related to the resolution of the hierarchy problem. Upon canonically normalizing the Higgs field these new contributions lead to modifications of Higgs couplings which are typically great enough that the hierarchy problem a…
Sensitivity to the square of the cutoff scale of quantum corrections of the Higgs boson mass self-energy has led many authors to conclude that the Higgs theory suffers from a naturalness or fine-tuning problem. However, speculative new physics ideas to solve this problem have not manifested themselves yet at high-energy colliders, such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. For this reason, the role of naturalness as a guide to theory model-building is being severely questioned. Most attacks suggest that one should not resort to arguments involving gravity, which is a much less understood quant…
The Standard Model Higgs suffers from the hierarchy problem, typically implying new states within the reach of the LHC. If the Higgs is very heavy (~500 GeV) the states that cutoff the quadratic divergence may be beyond the reach of the LHC. However, in this case precision electroweak data require the Standard Model to be augmented with new states at the electroweak scale. We study a very simple model, with no new colored states, that allows a heavy Higgs whilst remaining consistent with experiments, and yielding the correct dark matter abundance. We investigate the possibilities for its disco…
A core prediction of natural Supersymmetry is the existence of four light higgsinos not too far above the mass of the $Z$ boson. The small mass splittings amongst the higgsinos -- typically 5-20\,GeV -- imply very little visible energy release from decays of heavier higgsinos. In particular, if other SUSY particles are quite heavy, as can be the case in SUSY with radiatively-driven naturalness, the higgsinos are extremely hard to detect at hadron colliders. The clean environment of electron-positron colliders with $\sqrt{s} > 2m_{\mathrm{higgsino}}$, however, would allow for a decisive search …
We study a holographic realisation of a composite Higgs model with an SO(6)/SO(5) symmetry breaking coset in which the top sector includes colour-neutral twin-partners that reduce the sensitivity of the Higgs mass to the cut-off. Key to this neutral-naturalness mechanism is a Z2 symmetry that leaves the Yukawa couplings to the Higgs boson invariant under an exchange of the top quark and twin top quark, but the symmetry structure of the model means that the Z2 symmetry is not present in the gauge boson couplings to the Higgs. Within the calculable framework of holography we construct and study …
The quadratic divergences of the Higgs mass may be cancelled either accidentally or by the exchange of some new particles. Alternatively its impact on naturalness may be weakened by raising the Higgs mass, which requires changing the Standard Model below its natural cut-off. We show in detail how this can be achieved, while preserving perturbativity and consistency with the electroweak precision tests, by extending the Standard Model to include a second Higgs doublet that has neither a vev nor couplings to quarks and leptons. This Inert Doublet Model yields a perturbative and completely natura…
The presence of two light higgsinos nearly degenerate in mass is one of the important characteristics of suspersymmetric models meeting the naturalness criteria. Probing such higgsinos at the LHC is very challenging, in particular when the mass-splitting between them is less than 5 GeV. In this study, we analyze such a degenerate higgsino scenario by exploiting the high collinearity between the two muons which originate from the decay of the heavier higgsino into the lighter one and which are accompanied by a high-$p_T$ QCD jet. Using our method, we can achieve a statistical significance $\sim…
New physics coupling to the Higgs sector of the Standard Model can lead to dangerously large corrections to the Higgs mass. We investigate this problem in the type II seesaw model for neutrino mass, where a weak scalar triplet is introduced. The interplay of direct and indirect constraints on the type II seesaw model with its contribution to the Higgs mass is analyzed. The focus lies on testable triplet masses and (sub) eV-scale triplet vacuum expectation values. We identify scenarios that are testable in collider and/or lepton flavor violation experiments, while satisfying the Higgs naturalne…
Theories of physics beyond the Standard Model that address the hierarchy problem generally involve top partners, new particles that cancel the quadratic divergences associated with the Yukawa coupling of the Higgs to the top quark. With extensions of the Standard Model that involve new colored particles coming under strain from collider searches, scenarios in which the top partners carry no charge under the strong interactions have become increasingly compelling. Although elusive for direct searches, these theories predict modified couplings of the Higgs boson to the Standard Model particles. …
We analyse the interplay of the constraints imposed on flavour-symmetric Composite Higgs models by Naturalness considerations and the constraints derived from Flavour Physics and Electroweak Precision Tests. Our analysis is based on the Effective Field Theory which describes the Higgs as a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson and also includes the composite fermionic resonances. Within this approach one is able to identify the directions in the parameter space where the $U(3)$-symmetric flavour models can pass the current experimental constraints, without conflicting with the light Higgs mass. We also…
The absence of supersymmetry or other new physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has lead many to question naturalness arguments. With Bayesian statistics, we argue that natural models are most probable and that naturalness is not merely an aesthetic principle. We calculate a probabilistic measure of naturalness, the Bayesian evidence, for the Standard Model (SM) with and without quadratic divergences, confirming that the SM with quadratic divergences is improbable. We calculate the Bayesian evidence for the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM) with naturalness priors …
Extending the spacetime symmetries of standard model (SM) by scale invariance (SI) may address the Higgs naturalness problem. In this article we attempt to embed accidental dark matter (DM) into SISM, requiring that the symmetry protecting DM stability is accidental due to the model structure rather than imposed by hand. In this framework, if the light SM-like Higgs boson is the pseudo Goldstone boson of SI spontaneously breaking, we can even pine down the model, two-Higgs-doublets plus a real singlet: The singlet is the DM candidate and the extra Higgs doublet triggers electroweak symmetry br…
Mirage mediation realized in the Kachru-Kallosh-Linde-Trivedi (KKLT) flux compactification can naturally suppress the up-type Higgs soft mass at low energy scales. As a result, compared to the conventional scenarios, the degree of electroweak fine-tuning can be reduced further up to by a loop factor if the Higgsinos are much lighter than the heavy Higgs doublet. Interestingly, this feature holds even in high-scale supersymmetry as long as the gauge coupling unification, which is required as a prerequisite for mirage mediation, accommodates such light Higgsinos. Under the experimental constrain…
Examining the Higgs sector at high energy scales through off-shell Higgs production can potentially shed light on the naturalness problem of the Higgs mass. We propose such a study at the LHC by utilizing a representative model with a new scalar field ($S$) coupled to the Standard Model Higgs doublet ($H$) in a form $ |S|^2 |H|^2$. In the process $p p \rightarrow h^* \rightarrow ZZ$, the dominant momentum-dependent part of the one-loop scalar singlet corrections, especially above the new threshold at $2m_S$, leads to a measurable deviation in the differential distribution of the $Z$-pair invar…
