Related papers: Mass Hierarchy and Vacuum Energy
This paper explores various aspects and implications of the initial configuration of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs field at the beginning of our Universe. It is well known that the SM Higgs field features a deeper, more stable minimum at…
Free massless scalars have a shift symmetry. This is usually broken by gauge and Yukawa interactions, such that quantum corrections induce a quadratically divergent mass term. In the Standard Model this leads to the hierarchy problem of the…
The triviality of the scalar sector of the standard one-doublet Higgs model implies that this model is only an effective low-energy theory valid below some cut-off scale Lambda. For a heavy higgs this scale must be relatively low (10 TeV or…
Stability of the Higgs vacuum during early universe inflation is dependent on how the Higgs couples to the spacetime curvature. Limits on the curvature coupling parameter at the electroweak scale $\xi_{EW}$ are shown to be consistent only…
If the potential of a scalar field, Phi, which currently provides the ``dark energy'' of the universe, has a negative minimum -M_0^4, then quantum-mechanical fluctuations could nucleate a bubble of Phi at a negative value of the potential.…
We construct a minimal viable extension of the standard model (SM) with classical scale symmetry. Its scalar sector contains a complex singlet in addition to the SM Higgs doublet. The scale-invariant and CP-symmetric Higgs potential…
The latest results of the ATLAS and CMS experiments point to a preferred narrow Higgs mass range (m_h \simeq 124 - 126 GeV) in which the effective potential of the Standard Model (SM) develops a vacuum instability at a scale 10^{9} -10^{11}…
The vacuum is filled with complex scalar fields, such as the Higgs field. These fields serve as order parameters for superfluidity (quantum phase coherence over macroscopic distances), making the entire universe a superfluid. We review a…
A finite vacuum energy density implies the existence of a UV scale for gravitational modes. This gives a phenomenological scale to the dynamical equations governing the cosmological expansion that must satisfy constraints consistent with…
We consider stochastically quantized self-interacting scalar fields as suitable models to generate dark energy in the universe. Second quantization effects lead to new and unexpected phenomena is the self interaction strength is strong. The…
We consider the problem of improving the effective potential in mass independent schemes, as e.g. the $\MSbar$ or $\DRbar$ renormalization scheme, in the presence of an arbitrary number of fields with $\phi$-dependent masses $M_i(\phi_c)$.…
We study theories which naturally select a vacuum with parametrically small Electroweak Scale due to finite temperature effects in the early universe. In particular, there is a scalar with an approximate shift symmetry broken by a…
The behavior of the gravitating vacuum energy density in an expanding universe is discussed. A scenario is presented with a step-wise relaxation of the vacuum energy density. The vacuum energy density moves from plateau to plateau and…
At very early times, the universe was not in a vacuum state. Under the assumtion that the deviation from equillibrium was large, in particular that it is higher than the scale of inflation, we analyse the conditions for local transitions…
In loop quantum cosmology nonperturbative modification to a scalar matter field at short scales implies inflation which also means a violation of the strong energy condition. In the framework of effective Hamiltonian we discuss the issue of…
Just like the weakly interacting QED can support non-perturbative phenomena, like atoms, so can the weak and Higgs interactions. Especially, there are strong field-theoretical arguments that only bound states can be the (quasi-)asymptotic…
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…
We investigate basic consequences of the assumption that the mass scale of the perturbative sector responsible for the spontaneous symmetry breaking is generated dynamically in a theory with a large UV scale. It is assumed that in addition…
As experiment charts new territory at the electroweak scale, the enterprise to characterise all possible theories becomes all the more necessary. In the absence of new particles, this ambitious enterprise is attainable and has led to the…
We investigate whether selfish/Goldilocks Higgs models can be extended to accomodate vacua with both the right Higgs mass and cosmological constant. Through the introduction of multiple four-form fields coupled with the Higgs scalar boson…