Related papers: Hairs of discrete symmetries and gravity
It is well known that the spontaneous breaking of discrete symmetries may lead to conflict with big-bang cosmology. This is due to formation of domain walls which give unacceptable contribution to the energy density of the universe. On the…
In theories with discrete Abelian gauge groups, requiring that black holes be able to lose their charge as they evaporate leads to an upper bound on the product of a charged particle's mass and the cutoff scale above which the effective…
Krauss and Wilczek have shown that an unbroken discrete gauge symmetry is respected by gravitationally mediated processes. This has led to a search for such a symmetry compatible with the standard model or MSSM that would protect protons…
We find that massless Higgs doublets at the GUT scale can be the natural result of a discrete symmetry. Such a mechanism does not require elaborate fine tuning or complicated particle content. The same discrete symmetry will also protect…
In Parts I and II of the work (gr-qc/9405013, 9407032), we have shown that gravity is {\it sui generis} a Higgs field corresponding to spontaneous symmetry breaking when the fermion matter admits only the Lorentz subgroup of world…
Many models of beyond Standard Model physics connect flavor symmetry with a discrete group. Having this symmetry arise spontaneously from a gauge theory maintains compatibility with quantum gravity and can be used to systematically prevent…
The question whether global symmetries can be realized in quantum-gravity-matter-systems has far-reaching phenomenological consequences. Here, we collect evidence that within an asymptotically safe context, discrete global symmetries of the…
We discuss aspects of global and gauged symmetries in quantum field theory and quantum gravity, focusing on discrete gauge symmetries. An effective Lagrangian description of $\Z_p$ gauge theories shows that they are associated with an…
A new gauge theory of gravity is presented. The theory is constructed in a flat background spacetime and employs gauge fields to ensure that all relations between physical quantities are independent of the positions and orientations of the…
Parity and CP symmetries are broken in the world around us. Nonetheless, parity (or CP) may be a gauge symmetry which is higgsed in our universe. This is assumed in many scenarios for physics beyond the Standard Model, including the classic…
We consider the probem of gauging discrete symmetries. All valid constraints on such symmetries can be understood in the low energy theory in terms of instantons. We note that string perturbation theory often exhibits global discrete…
Linearised gravity has a global symmetry under which the graviton is shifted by a symmetric tensor satisfying a certain flatness condition. There is also a dual symmetry that can be associated with a global shift symmetry of the dual…
The study of discrete gauge symmetries in field theory and string theory is often carried out by embedding them into continuous symmetries. Many symmetries however do not seem to admit such embedding, for instance discrete isometries given…
Dictated by Symmetry Principle, string theory predicts not General Relativity but its own gravity which assumes the entire closed string massless sector to be geometric and thus gravitational. In terms of $R/(MG)$, i.e. the dimensionless…
Explaining the observed charged fermion mass hierarchies points to flavour symmetries inducing a suppression of the lighter species' masses. When the symmetries are global, it is expected that such symmetries are broken by gravity via…
We study F-Theory compactifications to four dimensions that exhibit discrete gauge symmetries. Geometrically these arise by deforming elliptic fibrations with two sections to a genus-one fibration with a bi-section. From a four-dimensional…
The Higgs phenomenon occurs in theories of gravity in which the connection is an independent dynamical variable. The role of order parameters is played by the soldering form and a fiber metric. The breaking of the original gauge symmetry is…
We argue that the infinitely many gauge symmetries of string theory provide an infinite set of conserved (gauge) quantum numbers (W-hair) which characterise black hole states and maintain quantum coherence, even during exotic processes like…
A $q$-form global symmetry is a global symmetry for which the charged operators are of space-time dimension $q$; e.g. Wilson lines, surface defects, etc., and the charged excitations have $q$ spatial dimensions; e.g. strings, membranes,…
In string theory, there are no continuous global symmetries. Discrete symmetries frequently appear, and these can often be understood as unbroken subgroups of larger, spontaneously broken gauge symmetries (discrete gauge symmetries). In…