No Arabic abstract
We consider the strong dynamics associated with a composite Higgs model that simultaneously produces dynamical axions and solves the strong CP problem. The strong dynamics arises from a new $Sp$ or $SU(4)$ hypercolor gauge group containing QCD colored hyperfermions that confines at a high scale. The hypercolor global symmetry is weakly gauged by the Standard Model electroweak gauge group and an enlarged color group, $SU(N+3) times SU(N)$. When hyperfermion condensates form, they not only lead to an $SU(5)/SO(5)$ composite Higgs model but also spontaneously break the enlarged color group to $SU(3)_c times SU(N)_D$. At lower energies, the $SU(N)_D$ group confines, producing two dynamical axions that eliminates all CP violation. Furthermore, small instantons from the $SU(N)$ group can enhance the axion mass, giving rise to TeV scale axion masses that can be detected at collider experiments. Our model provides a way to unify the composite Higgs with dynamical axions, without introducing new elementary scalar fields, while also extending the range of axion masses that addresses the strong CP problem.
The strong CP problem is a compelling motivation for physics beyond the Standard Model. The most popular solutions invoke a global Peccei-Quinn symmetry, but are challenged by quantum gravitational corrections which are thought to be incompatible with global symmetries, arguing that realistic theories contain additional structure. We explore a construction in which the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is protected to arbitrary order by virtue of a supersymmetric, confining $SU(N)_L times SU(N) times SU(N)_R times U(1)_X$ product gauge group, achieving $bartheta < 10^{-11}$ for an $SU(5)$ model with $f_a lesssim 3 times 10^{11}$ GeV. This construction leads to low energy predictions such as a $U(1)_X$ gauge symmetry, and for $X = B-L$ engineers a naturally order ~TeV value for the $mu$ parameter of the MSSM.
Twin Higgs models are economical extensions of the Standard Model that stabilize the electroweak scale. In these theories the Higgs field is a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson that is protected against radiative corrections up to scales of order 5 TeV by a discrete parity symmetry. We construct, for the first time, a class of composite twin Higgs models based on confining QCD-like dynamics. These theories naturally incoporate a custodial isospin symmetry and predict a rich spectrum of particles with masses of order a TeV that will be accessible at the LHC.
A global $U(1)_text{PQ}$ symmetry is protected from gravitational effects in the s-confining $SU(N)^k$ product group theory with $A+4Q +Noverline{Q}$ matter. If the $SU(4)$ family symmetry is gauged and an appropriate tree-level superpotential is added, then the dynamically generated superpotential spontaneously breaks $SU(4)times U(1)_text{PQ} rightarrow SU(3)_c$ and produces a QCD axion. Small values of the $CP$-violating $theta$ parameter are then possible without any fine-tuning, as long as the product group is suitably large. By introducing a second copy of the s-confining $SU(N)$ product group also coupled to the gauged $SU(4)$, we find that values as small as $N=7$ are consistent with $bartheta<10^{-10}$, even under the pessimistic assumption that the dominant contribution to the axion quality is at tree level.
In the context of Composite Higgs Models we consider the realisation of an extended Higgs sector with two Higgs doublets arising as pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons from a $textrm{SO}(6) to textrm{SO}(4) times textrm{SO}(2)$ breaking. The properties of the Higgses are obtained in terms of the fundamental parameters of the composite sector, such as masses, Yukawa and gauge couplings of the new spin-1/2 and spin-1 resonances. After computing the Higgs potential from the explicit breaking of the $textrm{SO}(6)$ global symmetry by the partial compositeness of fermions and gauge bosons, the main focus is to derive the phenomenological properties of the Higgs bosons and to highlight the main signatures of the Composite 2-Higgs Doublet Model at the Large Hadron Collider, including modifications to the SM-like Higgs couplings, production and decay channels of heavier Higgs states.
Composite Higgs models provide an attractive solution to the hierarchy problem. However, many realistic models suffer from tuning problems in the Higgs potential. There are often large contributions from the UV dynamics of the composite resonances to the Higgs potential, and tuning between the quadratic term and the quartic term is required to separate the electroweak breaking scale and the compositeness scale. We consider a composite Higgs model based on the $SU(6)/Sp(6)$ coset, where an enhanced symmetry on the fermion resonances can minimize the Higgs quadratic term. Moreover, a Higgs quartic term from the collective symmetry breaking of the little Higgs mechanism can be realized by the partial compositeness couplings between elementary Standard Model fermions and the composite operators, without introducing new elementary fields beyond the Standard Model and the composite sector. The model contains two Higgs doublets, as well as several additional pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons. To avoid tuning, the extra Higgs bosons are expected to be relatively light and may be probed in the future LHC runs. The deviations of the Higgs couplings and the weak gauge boson couplings also provide important tests as they are expected to be close to the current limits in this model.