The Higgs mechanism and geometrical flows for two-manifolds

Using Perelman’s approach for geometrical flows in terms of an entropy functional, the Higgs mechanism is studied dynamically along flows defined in the space of parameters and in fields space. The model corresponds to two-dimensional gravity that incorporates torsion as the gradient of a Higgs field, and with the reflection symmetry to be spontaneously broken. The results show a discrete mass spectrum and the existence of a mass gap between the Unbroken Exact Symmetry and the Spontaneously Broken Symmetry scenarios. In the latter scenario, the geometries at the degenerate vacua correspond to conformally flat manifolds without torsion; twisted two-dimensional geometries are obtained by building perturbation theory around a ground state; the tunneling quantum probability between vacua is determined along the flows.

Spontaneously Broken Symmetries

The phenomenon of spontaneous symmetry breaking is a common feature of phase transitions in both classical and quantum physics. In a first part we study this phenomenon for the case of a global internal symmetry and give a simple proof of Goldstone’s theorem. We show that a massless excitation appears, corresponding to every generator of a spontaneously broken symmetry. In a second part we extend these ideas to the case of gauge symmetries and derive the Brout–Englert–Higgs mechanism. We show that the gauge boson associated with the spontaneously broken generator acquires a mass and the corresponding field, which would have been the Goldstone boson, decouples and disappears. Its degree of freedom is used to allow the transition from a massless to a massive vector field.

The universe from a single particle. Part II

We continue to explore, in the context of a toy model, the hypothesis that the interacting universe we see around us could result from single particle (undergraduate) quantum mechanics via a novel spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) acting at the level of probability distributions on Hamiltonians (rather than on states as is familiar from both Ginzburg-Landau superconductivity and the Higgs mechanism). In an earlier paper [1] we saw qubit structure emerge spontaneously on ℂ4 and ℂ8, and in this work we see ℂ6 spontaneously decomposing as ℂ2 ⊗ ℂ3 and very curiously ℂ5 (and ℂ7) splitting off one (one or three) directions and then factoring. This evidence provides additional support for the broad hypothesis: Nature will seek out tensor decompositions where none are present. We consider how this finding may form a basis for the origins of interaction and ask if it can be related to established foundational discussions such as string theory.

A somewhat random walk through nuclear and particle physics

These notes are an outgrowth of an advanced undergraduate course taught at the University of Maryland, College Park. They are intended as an introduction to various aspects of particle and nuclear physics with an emphasis on the role of symmetry. The basic philosophy is to introduce many of the fundamental ideas in nuclear and particle physics using relatively sophisticated mathematical tools -- but to do so in as a simplified a context to explain the underlying ideas. Thus, for example, the Higgs mechanism is discussed in terms of an Abelian Higgs model. The emphasis is largely, but not entirely theoretical in orientation. The goal is for readers to develop an understanding of many of the underlying issues in a relatively sophisticated way.

Aspects of compactification on a linear dilaton background

We consider the most general Kaluza-Klein (KK) compactification on S1/ℤ2 of a five dimensional (5D) graviton-dilaton system, with a non-vanishing dilaton background varying linearly along the fifth dimension. We show that this background produces a Higgs mechanism for the KK vector coming from the 5D metric, which becomes massive by absorbing the string frame radion. The $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 minimal supersymmetric extension of this model, recently built as the holographic dual of Little String Theory, is then reinvestigated. An analogous mechanism can be considered for the 4D vector coming from the (universal) 5D Kalb-Ramond two-form. Packaging the two massive vectors into a spin-3/2 massive multiplet, it is shown that the massless spectrum arranges into a $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1, D = 4 supersymmetric theory. This projection is compatible with an orbifold which preserves half of the original supersymmetries already preserved by the background. The description of the partial breaking $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 → $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 in this framework, with only vector multiplets and no hypermultiplets, remains an interesting open question which deserves further investigation.

Nonassociative gauge fields

In this paper, we study consequences of the assumption that the gauge group [Formula: see text] of the standard model is a nonassociative image of [Formula: see text]. Such an approach allows us to take a different look at the Higgs mechanism and obtain the value of the Weinberg angle in very good agreement with the experiment.

Discrete gauging and Hasse diagrams

We analyse the Higgs branch of 4d \mathcal{N}=2𝒩=2 SQCD gauge theories with non-connected gauge groups \widetilde{\mathrm{SU}}(N) = \mathrm{SU}(N) \rtimes_{I,II} \mathbb{Z}_2SŨ(N)=SU(N)⋊I,IIℤ2 whose study was initiated in . We derive the Hasse diagrams corresponding to the Higgs mechanism using adapted characters for representations of non-connected groups. We propose 3d \mathcal{N}=4𝒩=4 magnetic quivers for the Higgs branches in the type II discrete gauging case, in the form of recently introduced wreathed quivers, and provide extensive checks by means of Coulomb branch Hilbert series computations.

The Higgs mechanism in nonlocal field theory

We provide an example of nonlocal scalar electrodynamics that allows the same Higgs mechanism so successful in local field theory. The nonlocal action is structured in order to have the same exact solutions and the same equations of motion for perturbations of the local theory, at any perturbative order. Therefore, the perturbative degrees of freedom that propagate in the unstable vacuum are reshuffled when the stable vacuum is replaced in the EoM, but their number does not change at any perturbative order, and their properties are the same like in the usual local theory. Finally, the theory is superrenormalizable or finite at quantum level.

Remarks on an Anomalous Triple Gauge Boson Couplings

We address the effect of an anomalous triple gauge boson couplings on a physical observable for the electroweak sector of the Standard Model, when the S U 2 L ⊗ U 1 Y symmetry is spontaneously broken by the Higgs mechanism to U 1 e m . Our calculation is done within the framework of the gauge-invariant, but path-dependent variable formalism is an alternative to the Wilson loop approach. Our result shows that the interaction energy is the sum of a Yukawa and a linear potential, leading to the confinement of static probe charges. The point we wish to emphasize, however, is that the anomalous triple gauge boson couplings ( Z γ γ ) contributes to the confinement for distances on the intranuclear scale.