arXiv subjects

Francesco Sannino

Publications and source records attributed to Francesco Sannino.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Wilson Fermions with Four Fermion Interactions

We present a lattice study of a four fermion theory, known as Nambu Jona-Lasinio (NJL) theory, via Wilson fermions. Four fermion interactions naturally occur in several extensions of the Standard Model as a low energy parameterisation of a more fundamental theory. In models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking these operators, at an effective level, are used to endow the Standard Model fermions with masses. Furthermore these operators, when sufficiently strong, can drastically modify the fundamental composite dynamics by, for example, turning a strongly coupled infrared conformal theory into a (near) conformal one with desirable features for model building. As first step, we study spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking for the lattice version of the NJL model.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2015

Nonperturbative results for two-index conformal windows

Via large and small $N_c$ relations we derive nonperturbative results about the conformal window of two-index theories. Using Schwinger-Dyson methods as well as four-loops results we estimate subleading corrections and show that naive large number of colors extrapolations are unreliable when $N_c$ is less than about six. Nevertheless useful nonperturbative inequalities for the size of the conformal windows, for any number of colors, can be derived. By further observing that the adjoint conformal window is independent of the number of colors we argue, among other things, that: The large $N_c$ two-index conformal window is twice the conformal window of the adjoint representation (which can be determined at small $N_c$) expressed in terms of Dirac fermions; Lattice results for adjoint matter can be used to provide independent information on the conformal dynamics of two-index theories such as SU($N_c$) with two and four symmetric Dirac flavors.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Large N Scalars: From Glueballs to Dynamical Higgs Models

We construct effective Lagrangians, and corresponding counting schemes, valid to describe the dynamics of the lowest lying large N stable massive composite state emerging in strongly coupled theories. The large N counting rules can now be employed when computing quantum corrections via an effective Lagrangian description. The framework allows for systematic investigations of composite dynamics of non-Goldstone nature. Relevant examples are the lightest glueball states emerging in any Yang-Mills theory. We further apply the effective approach and associated counting scheme to composite models at the electroweak scale. To illustrate the formalism we consider the possibility that the Higgs emerges as: the lightest glueball of a new composite theory; the large N scalar meson in models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking; the large N pseudodilaton useful also for models of near-conformal dynamics. For each of these realisations we determine the leading N corrections to the electroweak precision parameters. The results nicely elucidate the underlying large N dynamics and can be used to confront first principle lattice results featuring composite scalars with a systematic effective approach.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Conformal symmetry vs. chiral symmetry breaking in the SU(3) sextet model

We present new results for the SU(3) "sextet model" with two flavors transforming according to the two-index symmetric representation of the gauge group. The simulations are performed using unimproved Wilson fermions. We measure the meson and baryon spectrum of the theory for multiple bare quark masses at two different lattice spacings. To address the pressing issue of whether the model is inside or below the conformal window, we compare the spectrum to the expectations for a theory with spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking and to those of an IR conformal theory. Regardless of the answer (conformal or chirally broken), the theory is a cornerstone in our understanding of near-conformal and composite dynamics, ranging from Technicolor models to unparticle physics. It is also interesting for the composite dynamics of vector-like singlets with respect to the Standard Model interactions.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2015

Asymptotically Safe Dark Matter

We introduce a new paradigm for dark matter (DM) interactions in which the interaction strength is asymptotically safe. In models of this type, the coupling strength is small at low energies but increases at higher energies, and asymptotically approaches a finite constant value. The resulting phenomenology of this "asymptotically safe DM" is quite distinct. One interesting effect of this is to partially offset the low-energy constraints from direct detection experiments without affecting thermal freeze-out processes which occur at higher energies. High-energy collider and indirect annihilation searches are the primary ways to constrain or discover asymptotically safe dark matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Four-Fermion Limit of Gauge-Yukawa Theories

We elucidate and extend the conditions that map gauge-Yukawa theories at low energies into time-honoured gauged four-fermion interactions at high energies. These compositeness conditions permit to investigate theories of composite dynamics through gauge-Yukawa theories. Here we investigate whether perturbative gauge-Yukawa theories can have a strongly coupled limit at high-energy, that can be mapped into a four-fermion theory. Interestingly, we are able to precisely carve out a region of the perturbative parameter space supporting such a composite limit. This has interesting implications on our current view on models of particle physics. As a template model we use an $SU(N_C)$ gauge theory with $N_F$ Dirac fermions transforming according to the fundamental representation of the gauge group. The fermions further interact with a gauge singlet complex $N_F\times N_F$ Higgs that ceases to be a physical degree of freedom at the ultraviolet composite scale, where it gives away to the four-fermion interactions. We compute the hierarchy between the ultraviolet and infrared composite scales of the theory and show that they are naturally large and well separated. Our results show that some weakly coupled gauge-Yukawa theories can be viewed, in fact, as composite theories. It is therefore tantalising to speculate that the standard model, with its phenomenological perturbative Higgs sector, could hide, in plain sight, a composite theory.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Elementary Goldstone Higgs Boson and Dark Matter

We investigate a perturbative extension of the Standard Model featuring elementary pseudo-Goldstone Higgs and dark matter particles. These are two of the five Goldstone bosons parametrising the SU(4)/Sp(4) coset space. They acquire masses, and therefore become pseudo-Goldstone bosons, due to the embedding of the Yukawa and the electroweak gauge interactions that do not preserve the full SU(4) symmetry. At the one-loop order the top corrections dominate and align the vacuum in the direction where the Higgs is mostly a pseudo-Goldstone boson. Because of the perturbative and elementary nature of the theory, the quantum corrections are precisely calculable. The remaining pseudo-Goldstone boson is identified with the dark matter candidate because it is neutral with respect to the Standard Model and stable. By a direct comparison with the Large Hadron Collider experiments, the model is found to be phenomenologically viable. Furthermore the dark matter particle leads to the observed thermal relic density while respecting the most stringent current experimental constraints.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Theory and Phenomenology of the Elementary Goldstone Higgs

We show, via a careful analytical and numerical analysis, that a pseudo Goldstone nature of the Higgs is naturally embodied by an elementary realization that also serves as ultraviolet completion. Renormalizability married to perturbation theory allows to precisely determine the quantum corrections of the theory while permitting to explore the underlying parameter space. By characterising the available parameter space of the extended Higgs sector we discover that the preferred electroweak alignment angle is centred around $θ\simeq 0.02$, corresponding to the Higgs chiral symmetry breaking scale $ f \simeq 14~$TeV. The latter is almost 60 times higher than the Standard Model electroweak scale. However, due to the perturbative nature of the theory, the spectrum of the enlarged Higgs sector remains in the few TeV energy range. We also analyse precision constraints and the relevant phenomenological aspects of the theory.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Custodial Vector Model

We analyze the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) phenomenology of heavy vector resonances with a $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R$ spectral global symmetry. This symmetry partially protects the electroweak S-parameter from large contributions of the vector resonances. The resulting custodial vector model spectrum and interactions with the standard model fields lead to distinct signatures at the LHC in the diboson, dilepton and associated Higgs channels.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Thermodynamics of asymptotically safe theories

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of a novel class of gauge-Yukawa theories that have recently been shown to be completely asymptotically safe, because their short-distance behaviour is determined by the presence of an interacting fixed point. Not only do all the coupling constants freeze at a constant and calculable value in the ultraviolet, their values can even be made arbitrarily small for an appropriate choice of the ratio $N_c/N_f$ of fermion colours and flavours in the Veneziano limit. Thus, a perturbative treatment can be justified. We compute the pressure, entropy density, and thermal degrees of freedom of these theories to next-to-next-to-leading order in the coupling constants.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Higgs Critical Exponents and Conformal Bootstrap in Four Dimensions

We investigate relevant properties of composite operators emerging in nonsupersymmetric, four-dimensional gauge-Yukawa theories with interacting conformal fixed points within a precise framework. The theories investigated in this work are structurally similar to the standard model of particle interactions, but differ by developing perturbative interacting fixed points. We investigate the physical properties of the singlet and the adjoint composite operators quadratic in the Higgs field, and discover that the singlet anomalous dimension is substantially larger than the adjoint one. The numerical bootstrap results are then compared to precise four dimensional conformal field theoretical results. To accomplish this, it was necessary to calculate explicitly the crossing symmetry relations for the global symmetry group SU($N$)$\times$SU($N$).

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Inflation from Asymptotically Safe Theories

We investigate models in which inflation is driven by an ultraviolet safe and interacting scalar sector stemming from a new class of nonsupersymmetric gauge field theories. These new theories, differently from generic scalar models, are well defined to arbitrary short distances because of the existence of a controllable ultraviolet interacting fixed point. The scalar couplings at the ultraviolet fixed point and their overall running are predicted by the geometric structure of the underlying theory. We analyse the minimal and non-minimal coupling to gravity of these theories and the consequences for inflation. In the minimal coupling case the theory requires large non-perturbative quantum corrections to the quantum potential for the theory to agree with data, while in the non- minimal coupling case the perturbative regime in the couplings of the theory is preferred. Requiring the theory to reproduce the observed amplitude of density perturbations constrain the geometric data of the theory such as the number of colors and flavors for generic values of the non-minimal coupling.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Fundamental Composite Electroweak Dynamics: Status at the LHC

We determine the current status of the fundamental composite electroweak dynamics paradigm after the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider experiments. Our analysis serves as universal and minimal template for a wide class of models with the two limits in parameter space being composite Goldstone Higgs models and Technicolor. This is possible because of the existence of a unified description, both at the effective and fundamental Lagrangian levels, of models of composite Higgs dynamics where the Higgs boson itself can emerge, depending on the way the electroweak symmetry is embedded, either as a pseudo-Goldstone boson or as a massive excitation of the condensate. We constrain the available parameter space at the effective Lagrangian level. We show that a wide class of models of fundamental composite electroweak dynamics, including Technicolor, are compatible with experiments. The results are relevant for future searches of a fundamental composite nature of the Higgs mechanism at the Large Hadron Collider.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Composite (Goldstone) Higgs Dynamics on the Lattice: Spectrum of SU(2) Gauge Theory with two Fundamental Fermions

We study the meson spectrum of the SU(2) gauge theory with two Wilson fermions in the fundamental representation. The theory unifies both Technicolor and composite Goldstone Boson Higgs models of electroweak symmetry breaking. We have calculated the masses of the lightest spin one vector and axial vector mesons. In addition, we have also obtained preliminary results for the mass of the lightest scalar (singlet) meson state. The simulations have been done with multiple masses and two different lattice spacings for chiral and continuum extrapolations. The spin one meson masses set lower limits for accelerator experiments, whereas the scalar meson will mix with a pGB of the theory and produce two scalar states. The lighter of the states is the 125 GeV Higgs boson, and the heavier would be a new yet unobserved scalar state.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2014

Asymptotic safety guaranteed

We study the ultraviolet behaviour of four-dimensional quantum field theories involving non-abelian gauge fields, fermions and scalars in the Veneziano limit. In a regime where asymptotic freedom is lost, we explain how the three types of fields cooperate to develop fully interacting ultraviolet fixed points, strictly controlled by perturbation theory. Extensions towards strong coupling and beyond the large-N limit are discussed.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Constraining new coloured matter from the ratio of 3- to 2-jets cross sections at the LHC

The Large Hadron Collider experiments are probing the evolution of the strong coupling $α_s$ up to the TeV scale. We show how the ratio of 3- to 2-jets cross sections is affected by the presence of new physics and argue that it can be used to place a model-independent bound on new particles carrying QCD color charge. The current data potentially constrains such states to be heavier than a few hundred GeVs.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Composite Goldstone Dark Matter: Experimental Predictions from the Lattice

We study, via first principles lattice simulations, the nonperturbative dynamics of $SU(2)$ gauge theory with two fundamental Dirac flavors. The model can be used simultaneously as a template for composite Goldstone boson dark matter and for breaking the electroweak symmetry dynamically. We compute the form factor, allowing us to estimate the associated electromagnetic charge radius. Interestingly we observe that the form factor obeys vector meson dominance even for the two color theory. We finally compare the model predictions with dark matter direct detection experiments. We find that the composite Goldstone boson dark matter cross sections is constrained by the most stringent direct-detection experiments. Our results are a foundation for quantitative new composite dynamics relevant for model building, and are of interest to current experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Primordial tensor modes from quantum corrected inflation

We analyze quantum corrections on the naive $ϕ^4$-Inflation. These typically lead to an inflaton potential which carries a non-integer power of the field. We consider both minimal and non-minimal couplings to gravity. For the latter case we also study unitarity of inflaton-inflaton scattering. Finally we confront these theories with the Planck and BICEP2 data. We demonstrate that the discovery of primordial tensor modes by BICEP2 require the presence of sizable quantum departures from the $ϕ^4$-Inflaton model for the non-minimally coupled scenario which we parametrize and quantify. We compare the results with the minimally coupled case and elucidate the main distinctive features.

hep-ph↗