Related papers: The `LEP paradox'
Various aspects of physics at LEP 2 are reviewed from a phenomenological point of view. We first discuss the search for Higgs bosons, which might be relatively light if indications from the precision electroweak data and supersymmetry are…
Many models of electroweak symmetry-breaking with an extended Higgs sector exhibit improved naturalness, wherein the new physics scale, at which quadratic divergences of Higgs mass parameters due to top quark loops are cut off, can be…
The LEP2 experiments pose a serious naturalness problem for supersymmetric models. The problem is stronger in gauge mediation than in supergravity models. Particular scenarios, like electroweak baryogenesis or gauge mediation with light…
The discovery of a light Higgs boson at LHC may be suggesting that we need to revise our model building paradigms to understand the origin of the weak scale. We explore the possibility that the Fermi scale is not fundamental but rather a…
Naturalness has for many years been a guiding principle in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model, particularly for understanding the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking. However, the discovery of the Higgs particle at 125…
For decades, the unnaturalness of the weak scale has been the dominant problem motivating new particle physics, and weak-scale supersymmetry has been the dominant proposed solution. This paradigm is now being challenged by a wealth of…
After presenting a simple procedure for testing naturalness (similar to Bayesian inference and not more subjective than it) we show that LEP2 experiments pose a naturalness problem for `conventional' supersymmetric models. About 95% of the…
We present a supersymmetric model of electroweak symmetry-breaking exhibiting improved naturalness, wherein the stop mass can be pushed beyond the reach of the Large Hadron Collider without unnatural fine tuning. This implies that…
The latest results on searches for supersymmetry, extra dimensions and exotic phenomena from the LEP collaborations are presented. No significant signal-like excess is observed in the data. The results are interpreted in various models and…
Supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model have been in vogue for over half a century. They have many interesting theoretical properties like calculability, absence of quadratic divergences, and phenomenologically impactful features…
The parameters of the supersymmetry Lagrangian are the place where experiment and theory will meet. We show that measuring them is harder than has been thought, particularly because of large unavoidable dependences on phases. Measurements…
The basic aim of physics studies at the LHC is to unravel the mechanism responsible for the spontaneous symmetry breaking in the Standard Model (SM). In the currently accepted theoretical picture, this translates into finding `direct'…
We study the implications of the absence of a direct discovery of a Higgs boson at LEP. First we exhibit 15 physically different ways in which one or more Higgs bosons lighter than the LEP limit could still exist. In the minimal…
The LHC runs at 7 and 8 TeV have led to the discovery of the Higgs boson at 125 GeV which will remain as one of the major physics discoveries of our time. Another very important result was the surprising absence of any signals of new…
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 Principle of Naturalness of small parameters of a theory is reviewed. While quantum field theories constructed from gauge fields and fermions only are natural, those containing elementary scalar fields are not. In particular the Higgs…
These lectures provide a concise introduction to the so-called "Beyond the Standard Model"' physics, with particular emphasis on the problem of the microscopic origin of the Higgs mass term and of the Electro-Weak symmetry breaking scale in…
Is the weak scale natural? This ever pending question makes the search for new particle production a highly motivated primary goal of the next LHC phase. These searches may or may not be successful. While waiting for a needed higher energy…
According to the long-standing received wisdom, a "small" value of the Higgs mass - as for instance implied by general unitarity constraints - is highly "unnatural" and essentially $\mbox{requires}$ new physics to be present at or near…
With the discovery of a particle that seems rather consistent with the minimal Standard Model Higgs boson, attention turns to questions of naturalness, fine-tuning, and what they imply for physics beyond the Standard Model and its discovery…