arXiv subjects

Markus A. Luty

Publications and source records attributed to Markus A. Luty.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Scale Invariance, Conformality, and Generalized Free Fields

This paper addresses the question of whether there are 4D Lorentz invariant unitary quantum field theories with scale invariance but not conformal invariance. An important loophole in the arguments of Luty-Polchinski-Rattazzi and Dymarsky-Komargodski-Schwimmer-Theisen is that trace of the energy-momentum tensor $T$ could be a generalized free field. In this paper we rule out this possibility. The key ingredient is the observation that a unitary theory with scale but not conformal invariance necessarily has a non-vanishing anomaly for global scale transformations. We show that this anomaly cannot be reproduced if $T$ is a generalized free field unless the theory also contains a dimension-2 scalar operator. In the special case where such an operator is present it can be used to redefine ("improve") the energy-momentum tensor, and we show that there is at least one energy-momentum tensor that is not a generalized free field. In addition, we emphasize that, in general, large momentum limits of correlation functions cannot be understood from the leading terms of the coordinate space OPE. This invalidates a recent argument by Farnsworth-Luty-Prilepina (FLP). Despite the invalidity of the general argument of FLP, some of the techniques turn out to be useful in the present context.

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arXiv2013

Renormalization of Entanglement Entropy and the Gravitational Effective Action

The entanglement entropy associated with a spatial boundary in quantum field theory is UV divergent, with the leading term proportional to the area of the boundary. For a class of quantum states defined by a path integral, the Callan-Wilczek formula gives a geometrical definition of the entanglement entropy. We show that, for this class of quantum states, the entanglement entropy is rendered UV-finite by precisely the counterterms required to cancel the UV divergences in the gravitational effective action. In particular, the leading contribution to the entanglement entropy is given by the renormalized Bekenstein-Hawking formula, in accordance with a proposal of Susskind and Uglum. We show that the subleading UV-divergent terms in the entanglement entropy depend nontrivially on the quantum state. We compute new subleading terms in the entanglement entropy and find agreement with the Wald entropy formula for black hole spacetimes with bifurcate Killing horizons. We speculate that the entanglement entropy of an arbitrary spatial boundary may be a well-defined observable in quantum gravity.

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arXiv2013

Induced Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and Supersymmetric Naturalness

In this paper we study a new class of supersymmetric models that can explain a 125 GeV Higgs without fine-tuning. These models contain additional `auxiliary Higgs' fields with large tree-level quartic interaction terms but no Yukawa couplings. These have electroweak-breaking vacuum expectation values, and contribute to the VEVs of the MSSM Higgs fields either through an induced quartic or through an induced tadpole. The quartic interactions for the auxiliary Higgs fields can arise from either D-terms or F-terms. The tadpole mechanism has been previously studied in strongly-coupled models with large D-terms, referred to as `superconformal technicolor.' The perturbative models studied here preserve gauge coupling unification in the simplest possible way, namely that all new fields are in complete SU(5) multiplets. The models are consistent with the observed properties of the 125 GeV Higgs-like boson as well as precision electroweak constraints, and predict a rich phenomenology of new Higgs states at the weak scale. The tuning is less than 10% in almost all of the phenomenologically allowed parameter space. If electroweak symmetry is broken by an induced tadpole, the cubic and quartic Higgs self-couplings are significantly smaller than in the standard model.

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arXiv2012

The $a$-theorem and the Asymptotics of 4D Quantum Field Theory

We study the possible IR and UV asymptotics of 4D Lorentz invariant unitary quantum field theory. Our main tool is a generalization of the Komargodski-Schwimmer proof for the $a$-theorem. We use this to rule out a large class of renormalization group flows that do not asymptote to conformal field theories in the UV and IR. We show that if the IR (UV) asymptotics is described by perturbation theory, all beta functions must vanish faster than $(1/|\lnμ|)^{1/2}$ as $μ\to 0$ ($μ\to \infty$). This implies that the only possible asymptotics within perturbation theory is conformal field theory. In particular, it rules out perturbative theories with scale but not conformal invariance, which are equivalent to theories with renormalization group pseudocycles. Our arguments hold even for theories with gravitational anomalies. We also give a non-perturbative argument that excludes theories with scale but not conformal invariance. This argument holds for theories in which the stress-energy tensor is sufficiently nontrivial in a technical sense that we make precise.

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arXiv2012

Partially Composite Higgs in Supersymmetry

We propose a framework for natural breaking of electroweak symmetry in supersymmetric models, where elementary Higgs fields are semi-perturbatively coupled to a strong superconformal sector. The Higgs VEVs break conformal symmetry in the strong sector at the TeV scale, and the strong sector in turn gives important contributions to the Higgs potential, giving rise to a kind of Higgs bootstrap. A Higgs with mass $125\GeV$ can be accommodated without any fine tuning. A Higgsino mass of order the Higgs mass is also dynamically generated in these models. The masses in the strong sector generically violate custodial symmetry, and a good precision electroweak fit requires tuning of order $\sim 10%$. The strong sector has an approximately supersymmetric spectrum of hadrons at the TeV scale that can be observed by looking for a peak in the $WZ$ invariant mass distribution, as well as final states containing multiple $W$, $Z$, and Higgs bosons. The models also generically predict large corrections (either enhancement or suppression) to the $h \to \ga\ga$ width.

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arXiv2011

Superconformal Technicolor: Models and Phenomenology

In supersymmetric theories with a strong conformal sector, soft supersymmetry breaking naturally gives rise to confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in the strong sector at the TeV scale. We construct and analyze models where such a sector dynamically breaks electroweak symmetry, and take the first steps in studying their phenomenology. We consider two scenarios, one where the strong dynamics induces vacuum expectation values for elementary Higgs fields, and another where the strong dynamics is solely responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking. In both cases there is no fine tuning required to explain the absence of a Higgs boson below the LEP bound, solving the supersymmetry naturalness problem. Quark and lepton masses arise from conventional Yukawa couplings to elementary Higgs bosons, so there are no additional flavor-changing effects associated with the strong dynamics. A good precision electroweak fit can be obtained because the strong sector is an SU(2) gauge theory with one weak doublet, and has adjustable parameters that control the violation of custodial symmetry. In addition to the the standard supersymmetry signals, these models predict production of multiple heavy standard model particles (t, W, Z, and b) from decays of resonances in the strong sector. The strong sector has no approximate parity symmetry, so WW scattering is unitarized by states that can decay to WWW as well as WW.

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arXiv2011

Superconformal Technicolor

In supersymmetric theories with a strong conformal sector, soft supersymmetry breaking at the TeV scale naturally gives rise to confinement and chiral symmetry breaking at the same scale. We investigate models where such a sector dynamically breaks electroweak symmetry. We consider two scenarios, one where the strong dynamics induces vacuum expectation values for elementary Higgs fields, and another where the strong dynamics is solely responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking. In both cases there is no fine tuning required to explain the absence of a Higgs boson below the LEP bound, solving the supersymmetry naturalness problem. A good precision electroweak fit can be obtained, and quark and lepton masses are generated without flavor-changing neutral currents. Electroweak symmetry breaking may be dominated either by the elementary Higgs bosons or by the strong dynamics. In addition to standard superymmetry collider signals, these models predict production of multiple heavy standard model particles (t, W, Z, and b) from decays of resonances in the strong sector.

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arXiv2011

Early Higgs Boson Discovery in Non-minimal Higgs Sectors

Particle physics models with more than one Higgs boson occur in many frameworks for physics beyond the standard model, including supersymmetry, technicolor, composite Higgs, and "little Higgs" models. If the Higgs sector contains couplings stronger than electroweak gauge couplings, there will be heavy Higgs particles that decay to lighter Higgs particles plus heavy particles such as $W$, $Z$, and $t$. This motivates searches for final states involving multiple $W$, $Z$, $t$, and $\bar{b}b$ pairs. A two Higgs doublet model with custodial symmetry is a useful simplified model to describe many of these signals. The model can be parameterized by the physical Higgs masses and the mixing angles $\al$ and $\be$, so discovery or exclusion in this parameter space has a straightforward physical interpretation. We illustrate this with a detailed analysis of the process $gg \to A$ followed by $A \to h Z$ and $h \to WW$. For $m_{A} \simeq 330\GeV$, $m_{h} \simeq 200\GeV$ we can get a $4.5\si$ signal with 1 fb${}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity at the Large Hadron Collider.

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arXiv2011

Higgsstrahlung from R-hadrons

If R hadrons are discovered at the LHC, investigation of their properties will be of paramount importance. One important question is how much of the R-hadron mass is due to electroweak symmetry breaking, i.e. the coupling of the Higgs to R-hadrons. In this paper we show that in models where the Higgs has a sizable coupling to R-hadrons we can readily observe Higgs production in association with a pair of R-hadrons ("Higgsstrahlung"). This process can be used to distinguish between different models of R-hadrons. It may be the discovery mode of the Higgs for low mass Higgs bosons, and provides a low-background Higgs sample to study h to bb.

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arXiv2011

Flavor in Minimal Conformal Technicolor

We construct a complete, realistic, and natural UV completion of minimal conformal technicolor that explains the origin of quark and lepton masses and mixing angles. As in "bosonic technicolor", we embed conformal technicolor in a supersymmetric theory, with supersymmetry broken at a high scale. The exchange of heavy scalar doublets generates higher-dimension interactions between technifermions and quarks and leptons that give rise to quark and lepton masses at the TeV scale. Obtaining a sufficiently large top quark mass requires strong dynamics at the supersymmetry breaking scale in both the top and technicolor sectors. This is natural if the theory above the supersymmetry breaking also has strong conformal dynamics. We present two models in which the strong top dynamics is realized in different ways. In both models, constraints from flavor-changing effects can be easily satisfied. The effective theory below the supersymmetry breaking scale is minimal conformal technicolor with an additional light technicolor gaugino. We argue that this light gaugino is a general consequence of conformal technicolor embedded into a supersymmetric theory. If the gaugino has mass below the TeV scale it will give rise to an additional pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson that is observable at the LHC.

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arXiv2010

Natural h -> 4g in Supersymmetric Models and R-Hadrons at the LHC

We construct a simple and natural supersymmetric model where the dominant Higgs decay is h -> aa followed by a -> gg. In this case m_h < m_Z is compatible with all experimental searches, completely eliminating the fine tuning otherwise required to satisfy Higgs search limits. The model extends the MSSM with singlet Higgs fields as well as vector-like colored particles that mediate the decay a -> gg. The a is a pseudo-Nambu Goldstone boson of a new global U(1) symmetry, and can naturally have any mass from a few GeV to m_h/2. All interactions can be perturbative up to the GUT scale, and gauge coupling unification is preserved if the colored mediators come in complete GUT representations. In this case a -> gamma gamma has a ~1% branching ratio, so h -> gg gamma gamma may be observable. The colored particles that mediate the h -> gg decay must be below the TeV scale, and can therefore be produced at the LHC. If these particles are stable on collider timescales, they will appear as R-hadrons, a signal visible in early LHC running. A smoking-gun signal that the stable colored particles are mediators of h -> 4j is R-hadron production in association with an a. We show that this signal with a -> gamma gamma is observable at LHC with as little as 10 fb^{-1} of integrated luminosity. Observation of R-hadrons plus missing energy can show that the superpartner of the R-hadron is R-parity odd, and therefore not an ordinary quark or gluon.

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arXiv2010

Minimal Gaugomaly Mediation

Mixed anomaly and gauge mediation ("gaugomaly'' mediation) gives a natural solution to the SUSY flavor problem with a conventional LSP dark matter candidate. We present a minimal version of gaugomaly mediation where the messenger masses arise directly from anomaly mediation, automatically generating a messenger scale of order 50 TeV. We also describe a simple relaxation mechanism that gives rise to realistic mu and B mu terms. B is naturally dominated by the anomaly-mediated contribution from top loops, so the mu/B mu sector only depends on a single new parameter. In the minimal version of this scenario the full SUSY spectrum is determined by two continuous parameters (the anomaly- and gauge-mediated SUSY breaking masses) and one discrete parameter (the number of messengers). We show that these simple models can give realistic spectra with viable dark matter.

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arXiv2010

Leptonic Indirect Detection Signals from Strongly Interacting Asymmetric Dark Matter

Particles with TeV mass and strong self-interactions generically have the right annihilation cross section to explain an observed excess of cosmic electrons and positrons if the end-product of the annihilation is charged leptons. We present an explicit model of strongly-coupled TeV-scale dark matter whose relic abundance related to the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the observed universe. The B - L asymmetry of the standard model is transfered to the dark sector by an operator carrying standard model lepton number. Lepton number violation naturally induces dark matter particle-antiparticle oscillations at late times, allowing dark matter-antimatter annihilations today. The dark matter annihilates into lighter strongly-interacting particles in the dark sector that decay to leptons via the transfer operator. The strong dynamics in the dark sector is at the weak scale due to supersymmetry breaking. The correct dark matter abundance is automatically obtained for natural values of dimensionless parameters, analogous to the situation for conventional WIMPs.

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arXiv2010

Minimal Conformal Technicolor and Precision Electroweak Tests

We study the minimal model of conformal technicolor, an SU(2) gauge theory near a strongly coupled conformal fixed point, with conformal symmetry softly broken by technifermion mass terms. Conformal symmetry breaking triggers chiral symmetry breaking in the pattern SU(4) -> Sp(4), which gives rise to a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson that can act as a composite Higgs boson. The top quark is elementary, and the top and electroweak gauge loop contributions to the Higgs mass are cut off entirely by Higgs compositeness. In particular, the model requires no top partners and no "little Higgs" mechanism. A nontrivial vacuum alignment results from the interplay of the top loop and technifermion mass terms. The composite Higgs mass is completely determined by the top loop, in the sense that m_h/m_t is independent of the vacuum alignment and is computable by a strong-coupling calculation. There is an additional composite pseudoscalar A with mass larger than m_h and suppressed direct production at LHC. We discuss the electroweak fit in this model in detail. Corrections to Z -> bb and the T parameter from the top sector are suppressed by the enhanced Sp(4) custodial symmetry. Even assuming that the strong contribution to the S parameter is positive and usuppressed, a good electroweak fit can be obtained for v/f ~ 0.25, where v and f are the electroweak and chiral symmetry breaking scales respectively. This requires fine tuning at the 10% level.

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arXiv2009

Macroscopic Strings and "Quirks" at Colliders

We consider extensions of the standard model containing additional heavy particles ("quirks") charged under a new unbroken non-abelian gauge group as well as the standard model. We assume that the quirk mass m is in the phenomenologically interesting range 100 GeV--TeV, and that the new gauge group gets strong at a scale Lambda < m. In this case breaking of strings is exponentially suppressed, and quirk production results in strings that are long compared to 1/Lambda. The existence of these long stable strings leads to highly exotic events at colliders. For 100 eV < Lambda < keV the strings are macroscopic, giving rise to events with two separated quirk tracks with measurable curvature toward each other due to the string interaction. For keV < Lambda < MeV the typical strings are mesoscopic: too small to resolve in the detector, but large compared to atomic scales. In this case, the bound state appears as a single particle, but its mass is the invariant mass of a quirk pair, which has an event-by-event distribution. For MeV < Lambda < m the strings are microscopic, and the quirks annihilate promptly within the detector. For colored quirks, this can lead to hadronic fireball events with 10^3 hadrons with energy of order GeV emitted in conjunction with hard decay products from the final annihilation.

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arXiv2009

Displaced Dark Matter at Colliders

Models in which the dark matter is very weakly coupled to the observable sector may explain the observed dark matter density, either as a "superWIMP" or as "asymmetric dark matter." Both types of models predict displaced vertices at colliders, with a rich variety of possible phenomenology. We classify the cases in which the decays can naturally occur inside particle detectors at the LHC, with particular focus on the nontrivial scenarios where the decaying particle is invisible. Identification of the position and timing of these invisible displaced vertices significantly improves the prospects of reconstructing the new physics in models such as supersymmetry. In many cases, reconstruction of the visible products of the displaced decay can determine the dark matter mass, allowing the dark matter density to be predicted from collider data.

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arXiv2009

Strong Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and Spin 0 Resonances

We argue that theories of strong electroweak symmetry breaking sector necessarily contain new spin 0 states at the TeV scale in the tbar-t and tbar-b/bbar-t channels, even if the third generation quarks are not composite at the TeV scale. These states couple sufficiently strongly to third generation quarks to have significant production at LHC via gg \to X or gb \to X. The existence of narrow resonances in QCD suggests that the strong electroweak breaking sector contains narrow resonances that decay to tbar-t or tbar-b/bbar-t, with significant branching fractions to 3 or more longitudinal W and Z bosons. These may give new "smoking gun" signals of strong electroweak symmetry breaking.

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arXiv2009

Strong Conformal Dynamics at the LHC and on the Lattice

Conformal technicolor is a paradigm for new physics at LHC that may solve the problems of strong electroweak symmetry breaking for quark masses and precision electroweak data. We give explicit examples of conformal technicolor theories based on a QCD-like sector. We suggest a practical method to test the conformal dynamics of these theories on the lattice.

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