Gedanken worlds without Higgs fields: QCD-induced electroweak symmetry breaking

Journal Article · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.79.096002· OSTI ID:21308469

Quigg, Chris ^[1]; Shrock, Robert ^[2]

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1. Theoretical Physics Department, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510 (United States)
2. C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794 (United States)

To illuminate how electroweak symmetry breaking shapes the physical world, we investigate toy models in which no Higgs fields or other constructs are introduced to induce spontaneous symmetry breaking. Two models incorporate the standard SU(3){sub c} x SU(2){sub L} x U(1){sub Y} gauge symmetry and fermion content similar to that of the standard model. The first class--like the standard electroweak theory--contains no bare mass terms, so the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry within quantum chromodynamics is the only source of electroweak symmetry breaking. The second class adds bare fermion masses sufficiently small that QCD remains the dominant source of electroweak symmetry breaking and the model can serve as a well-behaved low-energy effective field theory to energies somewhat above the hadronic scale. A third class of models is based on the left-right-symmetric SU(3){sub c} x SU(2){sub L} x SU(2){sub R} x U(1) gauge group. In a fourth class of models, built on SU(4){sub PS} x SU(2){sub L} x SU(2){sub R} gauge symmetry, the lepton number is treated as a fourth color and the color gauge group is enlarged to the SU(4){sub PS} of Pati and Salam (PS). Many interesting characteristics of the models stem from the fact that the effective strength of the weak interactions is much closer to that of the residual strong interactions than in the real world. The Higgs-free models not only provide informative contrasts to the real world, but also lead us to consider intriguing issues in the application of field theory to the real world.

• OSTI ID: 21308469
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 79; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CHIRAL SYMMETRY
COLOR MODEL
FERMIONS
GAUGE INVARIANCE
HADRONS
HIGGS BOSONS
HIGGS MODEL
LEPTON NUMBER
MASS
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
SIMULATION
STANDARD MODEL
STRONG INTERACTIONS
SU-2 GROUPS
SU-3 GROUPS
SU-4 GROUPS
SYMMETRY BREAKING
U-1 GROUPS
WEAK INTERACTIONS
WEINBERG-SALAM GAUGE MODEL