Phase transitions of the many-particle Weinberg-Salam system at finite temperature

A method is proposed for calculating high-temperature asymptotic behaviour of an effective potential, which is intended to deal with the situation when the spectra of particles cannot be found explicitly. This method is applied to calculating the high-temperature effective potential of a gas of particles described by the Weinberg-Salam model in presence of leptonic charge density, as well as of all the nonzero average fields (W-condensate, Higgs scalar, electric and weak-neutral chemical potentials) that appear as solutions of the equilibrium equations of this system at zero temperature, with the overall electric and weak neutrality preserved. There are three possible phases of the system: the symmetrical phase, the phase with the Higgs condensate, and the one with the Higgs and W-condensate. Equations for the boundary curves separating these phases are obtained and solved.     

Search for a lighter Higgs boson in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

Following the discovery of the Higgs boson with a mass of approximately 125 Ge V at the LHC, many studies have been performed from both the theoretical and experimental viewpoints to search for a new Higgs Boson that is lighter than 125 Ge V. We explore the possibility of constraining a lighter neutral scalar Higgs boson h_1 and a lighter pseudo-scalar Higgs boson a_1 in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model by restricting the next-to-lightest scalar Higgs boson h_2 to be the one observed at the LHC after applying the phenomenological constraints and those from experimental measurements. Such lighter particles are not yet completely excluded by the latest results of the search for a lighter Higgs boson in the diphoton decay channel from LHC data. Our results show that some new constraints on the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model could be obtained for a lighter scalar Higgs boson at the LHC if such a search is performed by experimental collaborations and more data. The potentials of discovery for other interesting decay channels of such a lighter neutral scalar or pseudo-scalar particle are also discussed.     

The derivative expansion of the fermion number current

The fermion number current is evaluated to leading order in the derivative expansion for chiral fermions in the background of arbitrary Higgs and chiral gauge fields. This current is given by the gauge topological current plus a total divergence term. The total divergence term is absent in Weinberg-Salam theory with one scalar Higgs doublet, even for an arbitrary mass matrix, but appears when several Higgs doublets are present.     

Scalar Resonance at 750 GeV as Composite of Heavy Vector-Like Fermions

We study a model of scalars which includes both the SM Higgs and a scalar singlet as composites of heavy vector-like fermions. The vector-like fermions are bounded by the super-strong four-fermion interactions. The scalar singlet decays to SM vector bosons through loop of heavy vector-like fermions. We show that the surprisingly large production cross section of di-photon events at 750 GeV resonance and the odd decay properties can all be explained. This model serves as a good model for both SM Higgs and a scalar resonance at 750 GeV.     

Low-energy theorems in Higgs physics

We present low-energy theorems for the calculation of loop amplitudes with external scalar or pseudoscalar Higgs bosons which are light compared to the loop particles. Starting from existing lowest-order versions of these theorems, we show how their applicability may be extended to the two-loop level. To illustrate the usefulness of these theorems, we discuss a number of applications to Higgs production and decay at and beyond the one-loop order.     

Effect of the renormalization group on the symmetry breaking patterns of SU(n) Higgs potentials

As a first step toward the study of the effects of radiative corrections on spontaneously broken potentials we consider the renormalization group equations for those parameters which determine the shape of the potential and the symmetry breaking patterns. As examples we consider the Higgs potential for a single scalar field and for the adjoint represention of SU(n). In the latter case we also obtain some results at the classical level - a new proof of the Michel conjecture, the Higgs mass spectrum and an explicit expression for the parameter that determines the symmetry breaking pattern.     

Similarity and differences between the radion and Higgs boson production and decay processes involving off-shell fermions

The radion is a scalar particle that occurs in brane world models and interacts with the trace of the energy–momentum tensor of the Standard Model (SM). The radion–SM fermion interaction Lagrangian differs from the Higgs boson–fermion interaction Lagrangian for off-shell fermions. It is shown that all additional, as compared to the Higgs boson, contributions to the amplitudes of radion production and decay processes involving off-shell fermions are canceled out for both massless and massive fermions. Thus, additional terms in the interaction Lagrangian do not change properties of these processes for the radion and the Higgs boson, except for the general normalization factors. This similarity is a consequence of gauge invariance for the processes with production of gauge bosons. When an additional scalar particle is produced, there are no apparent reasons for the above cancellation, as confirmed, for example, by the process with production of two scalar particles, which features an additional contribution of the radion in comparison with the Higgs boson.     

Indirect bounds on heavy scalar masses of the two-Higgs-doublet model in light of recent Higgs boson searches

We study an upper bound on masses of additional scalar bosons from the electroweak precision data and theoretical constraints such as perturbative unitarity and vacuum stability in the two-Higgs-doublet model taking account of recent Higgs boson search results. If the mass of the Standard-Model-like Higgs boson is rather heavy and is outside the allowed region by the electroweak precision data, such a discrepancy should be compensated by contributions from the additional scalar bosons. We show the upper bound on masses of the additional scalar bosons to be about 2 (1) TeV for the mass of the Standard-Model-like Higgs boson to be 240 (500) GeV.     

On Higgs-extended MSSM models

Motivated by the LHC results revealing the SM scalar sector as well as by its possible revision, we consider an MSSM scalar extension consisting of two Higgs triplets generating the observed neutrino and Higgs masses. The latter constrains their suppressed vevs and sizable couplings, which slightly influence the extended neutralino sector and the LSP emergence.     

Probing the Majorana nature of TeV-scale radiative seesaw models at collider experiments

A general feature of TeV-scale radiative seesaw models, in which tiny neutrino masses are generated via loop corrections, is an extended scalar (Higgs) sector. Another feature is the Majorana nature; e.g., introducing right-handed neutrinos with TeV-scale Majorana masses under the discrete symmetry, or otherwise introducing some lepton number violating interactions in the scalar sector. We study phenomenological aspects of these models at collider experiments. We find that, while properties of the extended Higgs sector of these models can be explored to some extent, the Majorana nature of the models can also be tested directly at the International Linear Collider via the electron–positron and electron–electron collision experiments.     

Gravitational Frames and Scalar Field Dynamics

Scalar fields describe interesting phenomena such as Higgs bosons, dark matter and dark energy, and are found to be quite common in physical theories. These fields are susceptible to gravitational forces so that being massless is not enough to remain conformal invariant. They should also be connected directly to the scalar curvature. Because of this characteristics, we investigated the structure and interactions of scalar fields under the conformal transformations. We show how to reduce the quadratic quantum contributions in the single scalar field theory. In the multi-scalar field theories, we analyzed interactions in certain limits. We suggest a new method for stabilizing Higgs bosons.

     

Solving the little hierarchy problem with a light singlet and supersymmetric mass terms

A generalization of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Model (NMSSM) is studied in which an explicit μ-term as well as a small supersymmetric mass term for the singlet superfield are incorporated. We study the possibility of raising the Standard Model-like Higgs mass at tree level through its mixing with a light, mostly-singlet, CP-even scalar. We are able to generate Higgs boson masses up to 145 GeV with top squarks below 1.1 TeV and without the need to fine tune parameters in the scalar potential. This model yields light singlet-like scalars and pseudoscalars passing all collider constraints.     

Search for Higgs bosons in {\rm e^+e^-} collisions at 183 GeV

The data collected by the OPAL experiment at GeV were used to search for Higgs bosons which are predicted by the Standard Model and various extensions, such as general models with two Higgs field doublets and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of approximately 54 pb. None of the searches for neutral and charged Higgs bosons have revealed an excess of events beyond the expected background. This negative outcome, in combination with similar results from searches at lower energies, leads to new limits for the Higgs boson masses and other model parameters. In particular, the 95% confidence level lower limit for the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson is 88.3 GeV. Charged Higgs bosons can be excluded for masses up to 59.5 GeV. In the MSSM, GeV and GeV are obtained for , no and maximal scalar top mixing and soft SUSY-breaking masses of 1 TeV. The range is excluded for minimal scalar top mixing and GeV. More general scans of the MSSM parameter space are also considered. Received: 27 October 1998 / Published online: 19 February 1999     

Stability and symmetry breaking in the general two-Higgs-doublet model

A method is presented for the analysis of the scalar potential in the general two-Higgs-doublet model. This allows us to give the conditions for the stability of the potential and for electroweak symmetry breaking in this model in a very concise way. These results are then applied to two different Higgs potentials in the literature, namely the MSSM and the two-Higgs-doublet potential proposed by Gunion et al. The known results for these models follow easily as special cases from the general results. In particular, for the potential of Gunion et al. we can clarify the stability and symmetry-breaking properties of the model with our method.     

Triviality pursuit: Can elementary scalar particles exist?

Great effort is presently being expended in the search for elementary scalar “Higgs” particles. These particles have yet to be observed. The primary justification for this search is the theoretically elegant Higgs-Kibble mechanism, in which the interactions of elemetary scalars are used to generate gauge boson masses in a quantum field theory. However, strong evidence suggests that at least a pure φ⁴ scalar field theory is trivial or noninteracting. Should this triviality persist in more complicated systems such as the standard model of the weak interaction, the motivation for looking for Higgs particles would be seriously undermined. Alternatively, the presence of gauge and fermion fields can rescue a pure scalar theory from triviality. Phenomenological constraints (such as a bounded or even predictable Higgs mass) may then be implied. In this report the evidence for triviality in various field theories is reviewed, and the implications for high energy physics are discussed.     

Conformal invariance and spontaneous symmetry breaking

We study the spontaneous symmetry breaking in a conformally invariant gravitational theory. We particularly emphasize on the nonminimal coupling of matter fields to gravity. By the nonminimal coupling we consider a local distinction between the conformal frames of metric of matter fieldsand the metric explicitly entering the vacuum sector. We suppose that these two frames are conformally related by a dilaton field. We show that the imposition of a condition on the variable mass term of a scalar field may lead to the spontaneous symmetry breaking. In this way the scalar field may imitate the Higgs field behavior. Attributing a constant configuration to the ground state of the Higgs field, a Higgs conformal frame is specified. We define the Higgs conformal frame as a cosmological frame which describes the large scale characteristics of the observed universe. In the cosmological frame the gravitational coupling acquires a correct value and one no longer deals with the vacuum energy problem. We then study a more general case by considering a variable configuration for the ground state of Higgs field. In this case we introduce a cosmological solution of themodel.     

Gaussian effective potential for the U(1) Higgs model

In order to investigate the Higgs mechanism nonperturbatively, we compute the Gaussian effective potential of the U(1) Higgs model (“scalar electrodynamics”). We show that the same simple result is obtained in three different formalisms. A general covariant gauge is used, with Landau gauge proving to be optimal. The renormalization generalizes the “autonomous” renormalization for λ?⁴ theory and requires a particular relationship between the bare gauge coupling e _B and the bare scalar self-coupling λ _B. When both couplings are small, then λ is proportional to e⁴ and the scalar/vector mass-squared ratio is of order e², as in the classic 1-loop analysis of Coleman and Weinberg. However, as λ increases, e reaches a maximum value and then decreases, and in this “nonperturbative” regime the Higgs scalar can be much heavier than the vector boson. We compare our results to the autonomously renormalized 1-loop effective potential, finding close agreement in the physical predictions. The main phenomenological implication is a Higgs mass of about 2 TeV.     

SO(N) higgs problem with adjoint+vector representations and non-linear potentials

Using the recently devised geometrical method, we analyze the quartic Higgs potential for SO(N) adjoint+vector representations. The minimum energy solutions are found to correspond to maxi-maximal little groups, but not all such groups are used. However, in the complete orbit space (including invariants not employed in the Higgs potential) we find that their strata have somewhat equal geometrical status of being low dimensional singular subspaces, i.e., cusps, edge curves, two-dimensional surfaces, etc. We also consider simple scalar potentials which are nonlinear with respect to orbit parameters and show that the directional extremum often, though not always, remains monotonic in orbit parameters within the orbit space and consequently the absolute extremum is likely to occur on the most protrudent portions of the orbit space boundary. Thus we clarify the range of validity of the Michel-Radicati conjecture and the Gell-Mann-Slansky conjecture.     

First-order electroweak phase transition powered by additional F-term loop effects in an extended supersymmetric Higgs sector

We investigate the one-loop effect of new charged scalar bosons on the Higgs potential at finite temperatures in the supersymmetric standard model with four Higgs doublet chiral superfields as well as a pair of charged singlet chiral superfields. In this model, the mass of the lightest Higgs boson h is determined only by the D-term in the Higgs potential at the tree-level, while the triple Higgs boson coupling for hhh can receive a significant radiative correction due to nondecoupling one-loop contributions of the additional charged scalar bosons. We find that the same nondecoupling mechanism can also contribute to realize stronger first order electroweak phase transition than that in the minimal supersymmetric standard model, which is definitely required for a successful scenario of electroweak baryogenesis. Therefore, this model can be a new candidate for a model in which the baryon asymmetry of the Universe is explained at the electroweak scale.     

Effects of topology on the light front

We discuss how to construct theta vacua in the light-front field theories using the 1+1 dimensional Abelian Higgs model as an example. Unlike the non-gauged scalar field, zero modes of the Higgs field are in general dynamical as well as the gauge-field zero mode. While symmetry breaking is discussed in semi-classical treatment of the zero modes, the theta vacua are introduced in the quantum level by use of the large gauge symmetry.