Related papers: Electroweak strings with dark scalar condensates a…
Cosmic strings are predicted in various extensions of the Standard Model, including grand unified theories. Depending on the symmetry-breaking pattern, they can be either topologically stable or metastable. Intriguingly, metastable strings…
We perform a three dimensional lattice simulation of the electroweak symmetry breaking process through a two-step phase transition, where one of the two steps is a first order phase transition. Our results show that: 1) when the electroweak…
We consider electroweak symmetry breaking in supersymmetric models with an extra non-anomalous U(1)' gauge symmetry and an extra standard-model singlet scalar S. For appropriate charges the U(1)' forbids an elementary mu term, but an…
Classical solutions describing strings endowed with an electric charge and carrying a constant electromagnetic current are constructed within the bosonic sector of the Electroweak Theory. For any given ratio of the Higgs boson mass to W…
We motivate a relation between dark energy and the scale of new physics in weakly coupled string theory. This mixing between infrared and ultraviolet physics leads to a unique corner for real-world phenomenology: barring fine-tunings, we…
We provide a thorough exposition, including technical and numerical details, of previously published results on the quantum stabilization of cosmic strings. Stabilization occurs through the coupling to a heavy fermion doublet in a reduced…
We present a new mechanism for electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) based on a strong Yukawa dynamics. We consider an SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y gauge invariant model endowed with the usual Standard model fermion multiplets and with two massive…
We point out that string theory can solve the conundrum to explain the emergence of an electroweak dipole moment from electroweak singlets through induction of those dipole moments through a Kalb-Ramond dipole coupling. This can generate a…
Dynamical symmetry breaking provides a possible solution to the electroweak hierarchy problem. It requires new strong interactions that are effective at some high-energy scale. If there is no light Higgs boson, this scale is constrained to…
In this paper we extend the analysis of the stability of an homogeneous black string in the presence of a negative cosmological constant with minimally coupled scalar fields. We recall the linear stability of this solutions under generic…
We uncover a rich microphysical structure for SO(10) cosmic strings. For the abelian string the electroweak symmetry is restored around it in a region depending on the electroweak scale. A rich structure of nonabelian strings is found. Some…
We study classically scale invariant models in which the Standard Model Higgs mass term is replaced in the Lagrangian by a Higgs portal coupling to a complex scalar field of a dark sector. We focus on models that are weakly coupled with the…
We investigate cosmic strings arising from a hierarchical gauge symmetry breaking sequence, $\mathrm{SU}(2) \times \mathrm{U}(1) \rightarrow \mathrm{U}(1) \times \mathrm{U}(1) \rightarrow \mathrm{U}(1)' \rightarrow \text{Nothing}$. This…
Vacuum stability in the Standard Model is problematic as the Higgs quartic self-coupling runs negative at a renormalization scale of about $10^{10}$ GeV. We consider a non-supersymmetric SO(10) grand unification model for which gauge…
Cosmic strings are topological defects possibly formed in the early Universe, which may be observable due to their gravitational effects on the cosmic microwave background radiation or gravitational wave experiments. To this effect it is…
We show that some models with $SU(3)_C\otimes SU(3)_L\otimes U(1)_X$ gauge symmetry can be realized at the electroweak scale and that this is a consequence of an approximate global $SU(2)_{L+R}$ symmetry. This symmetry implies a condition…
Recent developments in string duality suggest that the string scale may not be irrevocably tied to the Planck scale. Two explicit but unrealistic examples are described where the ratio of the string scale to the Planck scale is arbitrarily…
We construct a non-topological string solution for a supersymmetric gauge theory with $SU(2)\times U(1)$ gauge symmetry which is spontaneously broken to $U(1)$ by developing the vacuum expectation value of two doublet Higgses. It is a…
Current data point toward metastability of the electroweak vacuum within the Standard Model. We study the possibility of stabilizing the Higgs potential in U(1) extensions thereof. A generic Z$'$ boson improves stability of the scalar…
We consider a recent proposal by Dimopoulos and Kaplan to embed the electroweak SU(2)_L X U(1)_Y into a larger group SU(3)_W X SU(2) X U(1) at a scale above a TeV. This idea is motivated by the prediction for the weak mixing angle sin^2…