arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Robert Foot.
Treating the metric as a classical background field, we show that the cosmological constant does not run with the renormalization scale -- contrary to some claims in the literature.
If scale invariance is a classical symmetry then both the Planck scale and the weak scale should emerge as quantum effects. We show that this can be realized in simple scale invariant theories with a hidden sector. The weak/Planck scale hierarchy emerges in the (technically natural) limit where the hidden sector decouples from the ordinary sector. The weak scale is protected from quadratic divergences because of classical scale invariance, so there is no hierarchy problem.
Scale invariance may be a classical symmetry which is broken radiatively. This provides a simple way to stabilize the scale of electroweak symmetry breaking against radiative corrections. The simplest phenomenologically successful model of this type involves the addition of one real scalar field to the standard model. In this minimal model the electroweak Higgs can be interpreted as the pseudo-Goldstone boson of broken scale invariance. We study the possible origin of neutrino mass in such models, both at tree-level and radiatively.
We point out that it is possible to associate the electroweak Higgs boson with the pseudo-Goldstone boson of broken scale invariance, thus resolving the hierarchy problem in a technically natural way. We illustrate this idea with two specific gauge models. Besides being consistent with all currently available experimental data, both models maintain the predictive power of the standard model, since the first model has only one additional parameter beyond the standard model, and the second has the same number of free parameters as the standard model.
One of the most fascinating ideas coming from particle physics is the concept of mirror matter. Mirror matter is a new form of matter which is predicted to exist if mirror symmetry is respected by nature. At the preset time evidence that mirror matter actually exists is in abundance, coming from a range of observations and experiments in astronomy, particle physics, meteoritics and planetary science.
Pisano and Pleitez have introduced an interesting $\mbox{SU}(3)_C \otimes \mbox{SU}(3)_L \otimes \mbox{U}(1)_N$ gauge model which has the property that gauge anomaly cancellation requires the number of generations to be a multiple of 3. We consider generalizing that model to incorporate right-handed neutrinos. We find that there exists a non-trivial generalization of the Pisano-Pleitez model with right-handed neutrinos which is actually simpler than the original model in that symmetry breaking can be achieved with just three $\mbox{SU}(3)_L$ triplets (rather than 3 $\mbox{SU}(3)_L$ triplets and a sextet). We also consider a gauge model based on $\mbox{SU}(3)_C\otimes \mbox{SU}(4)_L \otimes \mbox{U}(1)_N$ symmetry. Both of these new models also have the feature that the anomalies cancel only when the number of generations is divisible by 3.