Related papers: Which fine-tuning arguments are fine?
The Principle of Naturalness of small parameters of a theory is reviewed. While quantum field theories constructed from gauge fields and fermions only are natural, those containing elementary scalar fields are not. In particular the Higgs…
Many years ago Weinberg formulated a definition of ``naturalness'' for effective theories: if an effective theory is to make sense, coefficients must not change too much when the cutoff scale is changed by a factor of order 1. As an…
In this essay, we discuss the fine-tuning problems of the Higgs mass and the cosmological constant. We argue that these are indeed legitimate problems, as opposed to some other "problems" that are sometimes described using similar…
We demonstrate that many Naturalness tests of particle theories discussed in the literature can be reformulated as straightforward algorithmic finetuning assessments in the matching of Wilsonian effective theories above and below particle…
In recent years, criticism of the methodology of particle physics beyond the Standard Model has increased, diagnosing too much reliance on aesthetic criteria for theory development and evaluation. Faced with several decades of experimental…
Naturalness is an extra-empirical quality that aims to assess plausibility of a theory. Finetuning measures are often deputized to quantify the task. However, knowing statistical distributions on parameters appears necessary. Such…
I aim to clarify the physical content and significance of naturalness. Physicists' earliest understanding of naturalness, as an autonomy of scales (AoS) requirement provides the most cogent definition of naturalness and I will assert that…
Many models of electroweak symmetry-breaking with an extended Higgs sector exhibit improved naturalness, wherein the new physics scale, at which quadratic divergences of Higgs mass parameters due to top quark loops are cut off, can be…
An explicit retrocausal model is used to analyze the general Wood-Spekkens argument [1] that any causal explanation of Bell-inequality violations must be unnaturally fine-tuned to avoid signaling. The no-signaling aspects of the model turn…
We introduce a mathematical framework for quantifying fine-tuning in general physical settings. In particular, we identify two distinct perspectives on fine-tuning, namely, a local and a global perspective --- and develop corresponding…
Nuclear effective field theories (EFTs) have been developed over the last quarter-century with considerable impact on the description of light and even medium-mass nuclei. At the core of any EFT is a systematic expansion of observables,…
Low energy supersymmetry is motivated by its use as a solution to the hierarchy problem of the electroweak scale. Having motivated this model with naturalness arguments, it is then necessary to check whether the experimentally allowed…
Our laws of nature and our cosmos appear to be delicately fine-tuned for life to emerge, in a way that seems hard to attribute to chance. In view of this, some have taken the opportunity to revive the scholastic Argument from Design,…
We formulate conditions for the naturalness of cosmological quintessence scenarios. The quintessence lagrangian is taken to be the sum of a simple exponential potential and a non-canonical kinetic term. This parameterization covers most…
Theoretical physicists describe nature by i) building a theory model and ii) determining the model parameters. The latter step involves the dual aspect of both fitting to the existing experimental data and satisfying abstract criteria like…
A common approach in physics and mathematics is to extend and modify theories and frameworks by considering what is often described as a `natural' extension or modification by including higher-order terms or by introducing other…
Physics associated with the Higgs field potential is rich and interesting and deserves a concise summary for a broader audience to appreciate the beauty and the challenges of this subject. We discuss the role of the Higgs potential in…
A scenario is outlined for quantum measurement, assuming that self-sustaining classicality is the consequence of an attractive gravitational self-interaction acting on massive bodies, and randomness arises already in the classical domain. A…
Little Higgs models represent an alternative to Supersymmetry as a solution to the Hierarchy Problem. After introducing the main physical ideas of these models, we present the fine-tuning associated to the electroweak breaking in Little…
The Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism and the multi-local field theory are interesting and promising candidates for solving the naturalness problem in the universe. These theories are based on the different physical principles: The former assumes…