Related papers: Naturalness Under Stress
Newtonian mechanics posited mass as a primary quality of matter, incapable of further elucidation. We now see Newtonian mass as an emergent property. Most of the mass of standard matter, by far, arises dynamically, from back-reaction of the…
A brief overview of Higgs physics and of supersymmetry is given. The central theme of the overview is to explore the implications of the recent discovery of a Higgs like particle regarding the prospects for the discovery of supersymmetry…
We propose a model of a confining dark sector, dark technicolor, that communicates with the Standard Model through the Higgs portal. In this model electroweak symmetry breaking and dark matter share a common origin, and the electroweak…
Experiments are once again under way at the LHC. This time around, however, the mood in the high-energy physics community is pessimistic. There is a growing suspicion that naturalness arguments that predict new physics near the weak scale…
The first LHC run has confirmed the Standard Model as the correct theory at the electroweak scale, and the existence of a Higgs-like particle associated with the spontaneous breaking of the electroweak gauge symmetry. These lectures…
The argument from naturalness is widely employed in contemporary quantum field theory. Essentially a formalized aesthetic criterion, it received a meaning in the debate on the Higgs mechanism, which goes beyond aesthetics. We follow the…
The observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson at the LHC, reported by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations, is a milestone in the quest to understand electroweak symmetry breaking. The evidence at the…
1. Why we do Believe in the Standard Model 2. Why we do not Believe in the Standard Model 2.1 Conceptual Problems 2.2 Hints from Experiment 2.2.1 Unification of Couplings 2.2.2 Dark Matter 2.2.3 Neutrino Masses 2.2.4 Baryogenesis 3. Status…
The present experimental and theoretical knowledge of the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking is reviewed. Data still favor a light Higgs boson, of a kind that can be comfortably accommodated in the Standard Model or in its Minimal…
We present a new solution to the electroweak hierarchy problem. We introduce $N$ copies of the Standard Model with varying values of the Higgs mass parameter. This generically yields a sector whose weak scale is parametrically removed from…
These lectures constitute a short course in `Beyond the Standard Model' for students of experimental particle physics. I discuss the general ideas which guide the construction of models of physics beyond the Standard Model. The central…
The weak gravity conjecture (WGC) is an ultraviolet consistency condition asserting that an Abelian force requires a state of charge $q$ and mass $m$ with $q>m/m_{\rm Pl}$. We generalize the WGC to product gauge groups and study its tension…
We propose a new class of four-dimensional theories for natural electroweak symmetry breaking, relying neither on supersymmetry nor on strong dynamics at the TeV scale. The new TeV physics is perturbative, and radiative corrections to the…
This is a historical account from my personal perspective of the development over the last few decades of the standard model of particle physics. The model is based on gauge theories, of which the first was quantum electrodynamics,…
The recently reported observation of a new particle with mass about 125 GeV and couplings generally resembling those of the Standard Model Higgs boson provides a potential probe of the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking. Although the…
The situation in particle physics after the discovery of the Higgs boson is discussed. Is the Standard Model consistent quantum field theory? Does it describe all experimental data? Are there any indications of physics beyond the SM? Is…
The quest for the physics underlying the breaking of the electroweak symmetry and the generation of mass is surveyed.
In spite of the great success of LHC experiments, we do not know whether the discovered "standard model-like" Higgs particle is really what the standard model predicts or a particle some new physics has in its low energy effective theory.…
The recent announcement of a discovery of a possible Higgs-like particle -its spin and parity is yet to be determined- at the LHC with a mass of 126 GeV necessitates a fresh look at the nature of the electroweak symmetry breaking, in…
The discovery of the Higgs boson is a major milestone in our progress toward understanding the natural world. A particular aim of this article is to show how diverse ideas came together in the conception of electroweak symmetry breaking…