Related papers: Electroweak strings with dark scalar condensates a…
Cosmic strings can arise in hidden sector models with a spontaneously broken Abelian symmetry group. We have studied the couplings of the Standard Model fields to these so-called dark strings in the companion paper. Here we survey the…
We show that the Z-strings of the standard electroweak theory can be stabilized by strong external magnetic fields, provided that $\beta^{1/2} \equiv M_H/M_Z\leq 1$, where $M_H$ and $M_Z$ are the Higgs and Z masses. The magnetic fields…
We consider a hidden sector with a vectorlike confining gauge theory like QCD with $N_{h,c}$ colors and $N_{h,f}$ light quarks ${\cal Q}_h$ in the hidden sector. Then a scale $\Lambda_H$ would be generated by dimensional transmutation, and…
If cosmic strings are present at the electroweak phase transition, they can act as seeds on which bubbles of true vacuum nucleate. We explore the nature of such a phase transition, in particular the wall velocity and thickness of the…
We consider a hidden sector with new vectorlike confining gauge theories like QCD. Then a scale $\Lambda_H$ would be generated in the hidden sector by dimensional transmutation, and chiral symmetry breaking occurs in the hidden sector. Then…
We explore the electroweak vacuum stability in the framework of a recently proposed paradigm for the origin of Yukawa couplings. These arise as low energy effective couplings radiatively generated by portal interactions with a hidden, or…
We discuss some cosmological implications of extensions of the Standard Model with hidden sector scalars coupled to the Higgs boson. We put special emphasis on the conformal case, in which the electroweak symmetry is broken radiatively with…
In this thesis, various extensions of the scalar sector have been considered comprising of different ${SU(2)_L}$ multiplets. If the extended scalar sector participates in the electroweak symmetry breaking then these extra scalars need to…
We study a classically scale-invariant model in which strong dynamics in a dark sector sets the scale of electroweak symmetry breaking. Our model is distinct from others of this type that have appeared in the recent literature. We show that…
We argue, based on typical properties of known solutions of string/$M$-theory, that the lightest supersymmetric particle of the visible sector will not be stable. In other words, dark matter is {\em not} a particle with Standard Model…
We show that stable local cosmic strings are a generic prediction of supersymmetric models where supersymmetry is broken at scales within a few orders of magnitude of the weak scale and is fed down to the observable sector by gauge…
In hidden sector models with an extra U(1) gauge group, new fields can interact with the Standard Model only through gauge kinetic mixing and the Higgs portal. After the U(1) is spontaneously broken, these interactions couple the resultant…
We show that the electroweak $Z-$string can be stabilized by the presence of bound states of a complex scalar field. We argue that fermions coupled to the scalar field of the string can also make the string stable and discuss the physical…
We analyse effective potential around the electroweak (EW) scale in the Standard Model extended with a heavy scalar doublet. We show that the additional scalars can have a strong impact on vacuum stability. Although the additional heavy…
We show that the minimal supergravity extension of the standard model automatically contains topologically stable electroweak strings if the hidden sector is invariant under the exact R-symmetry. These defects appear in the form of the…
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…
A new type of scalar potential inspired by unparticles is proposed for the electroweak symmetry breaking. The interaction between the standard model fields and unparticle sector is described by the non-integral power of fields that…
It is shown that the minimal left-right symmetric model admits cosmic string and domain wall solutions. The cosmic strings arise when the SU(2)_R is broken and can either be destabilized at the electroweak scale or remain stable through the…
Electroweak symmetry can be naturally broken by observed quark and gauge fields in various extra-dimensional configurations. No new {\it fundamental} fields are required below the quantum gravitational scale ($\sim$ 10 - 100 TeV). We…
We give plausibility arguments for the existence of a $W$--dressed electroweak string for the \ws ~model with $\th_W = 0$. This string is a $Z$--string which in the core has a finite energy contribution from $W$--condensation induced by the…