Electroweak symmetry breaking as a proximity effect
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
2010-04-21 v2 High Energy Physics - Lattice
High Energy Physics - Theory
Abstract
The proximity effect in condensed matter physics is a mechanism that naturally produces weak superconductivity. We argue that a braneworld can similarly produce a low-energy breaking of the electroweak symmetry, provided that in addition to the "normal" region, occupied by the conventional phase of QCD, there is a bulk region where the color is in an anisotropic (layered) state with a larger confinement scale. The W and Z bosons, as well as the quarks, acquire masses by scattering off the layered region. A peculiar feature of this scenario is that the strongly interacting sector responsible for the symmetry breaking can be much lighter than the conventional 1 TeV.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0812.1403,
title = {Electroweak symmetry breaking as a proximity effect},
author = {S. Khlebnikov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0812.1403},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
16 pages, 1 figure; v2: references added, minor changes