The weak scale from weak gravity

Craig, Nathaniel; Garcia Garcia, Isabel; Koren, Seth

doi:10.1007/JHEP09(2019)081

Title: The weak scale from weak gravity

Journal Article · 10 September 2019 · Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2019)081 · OSTI ID:1602203

Craig, Nathaniel ^[1]; Garcia Garcia, Isabel ^[2]; Koren, Seth ^[3]

Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States); University of California, Santa Barbara
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Kavli Inst. for Theoretical Physics
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

We explore the prospects for bounding the weak scale using the weak gravity conjecture (WGC), addressing the hierarchy problem by violating the expectations of effective field theory. Building on earlier work by Cheung and Remmen, we construct models in which a super-extremal particle satisfying the electric WGC for a new Abelian gauge group obtains some of its mass from the Higgs, setting an upper bound on the weak scale as other UV-insensitive parameters are held fixed. Avoiding undue sensitivity of the weak scale to the parameters entering the bound implies that the super-extremal particle must lie at or below the weak scale. While the magnetic version of the conjecture implies additional physics entering around the same scale, we demonstrate that this need not correspond to a cutoff for the Higgs potential or otherwise trivialize the bound. We stress that linking the WGC to the weak scale necessarily involves new light particles coupled to the Higgs, implying a variety of experimentally accessible signatures including invisible Higgs decays and radiative corrections in the electroweak sector. These models also give rise to natural dark matter candidates, providing additional paths to discovery. In particular, collective effects in the dark matter plasma may provide a telltale sign of the Abelian gauge group responsible for bounding the weak scale.

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Research Organization:: University of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0011702; SC0014129

OSTI ID:: 1602203

Journal Information:: Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Journal Name: Journal of High Energy Physics (Online) Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 2019; ISSN 1029-8479

Publisher:: Springer BerlinCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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