Gedanken Worlds without Higgs: QCD-Induced Electroweak Symmetry Breaking

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.79.096002· OSTI ID:950881

Quigg, Chris; Shrock, Robert

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} {circle_times} SU(2){sub L} {circle_times} 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} {circle_times} SU(2){sub L} {circle_times} SU(2){sub R} {circle_times} U(1)B?L gauge group. In a fourth class of models, built on SU(4){sub PS} {circle_times} SU(2){sub L} {circle_times} SU(2){sub R} gauge symmetry, lepton number is treated as a fourth color. 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.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 950881
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-09-018-T; arXiv eprint number arXiv:0901.3958
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CHIRAL SYMMETRY
COLOR
FERMIONS
LEPTON NUMBER
Phenomenology-HEP
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
STANDARD MODEL
STRONG INTERACTIONS
SYMMETRY
SYMMETRY BREAKING
WEAK INTERACTIONS