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Register a new userThe symmetry and simplicity of the laws of physics and the Higgs boson
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Juan Maldacena
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We describe the theoretical ideas, developed between the 1950s-1970s, which led to the prediction of the Higgs boson, the particle that was discovered in 2012. The forces of nature are based on symmetry principles. We explain the nature of these symmetries through an economic analogy. We also discuss the Higgs mechanism, which is necessary to avoid some of the naive consequences of these symmetries, and to explain various features of elementary particles.
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We consider multi-Higgs-doublet models which, for symmetry reasons, have a universal Higgs-Yukawa (HY) coupling, $g$. This is identified with the top quark $g=g_tapprox 1$. The models are concordant with the quasi-infrared fixed point, and the top quark mass is correctly predicted with a compositeness scale (Landau pole) at $M_{planck}$, with sensitivity to heavier Higgs states. The observed Higgs boson is a $bar{t}t$ composite, and a first sequential Higgs doublet, $H_b$, with $gapprox g_tapprox 1$ coupled to $bar{b}_R(t,b)_L$ is predicted at a mass $3.0 lesssim M_b lesssim 5.5$ TeV and accessible to LHC and its upgrades. This would explain the mass of the $b-$quark, and the tachyonic SM Higgs boson mass$^2$. The flavor texture problem is no longer associated with the HY couplings, but rather is determined by the inverted multi-Higgs boson mass spectrum, e.g., the lightest fermions are associated with heaviest Higgs bosons and vice versa. The theory is no less technically natural than the standard model. The discovery of $H_b$ at the LHC would confirm the general compositeness idea of Higgs bosons and anticipate additional states potentially accessible to the $100$ TeV $pp$ machine.
The 2016 Physics Nobel Prize honors a variety of discoveries related to topological phases and phase transitions. Here we sketch two exciting facets: the groundbreaking works by John Kosterlitz and David Thouless on phase transitions of infinite order, and by Duncan Haldane on the energy gaps in quantum spin chains. These insights came as surprises in the 1970s and 1980s, respectively, and they have both initiated new fields of research in theoretical and experimental physics.
The August 2011 Higgs mass prediction was based on an ongoing six year project studying M-theory compactified on a manifold of G2 holonomy, with significant contributions from Jing Shao, Eric Kuflik, and others, and particularly co-led by Bobby Acharya and Piyush Kumar. The M-theory results include: stabilization of all moduli in a de Sitter vacuum; gauge coupling unification; derivation of TeV scale physics (solving the hierarchy problem); the derivation that generically scalar masses are equal to the gravitino mass which is larger than about 30 TeV; derivation of the Higgs mechanism via radiative electroweak symmetry breaking; absence of the flavor and CP problems, and the accommodation of string axions. tan beta and the mu parameter are part of the theory and are approximately calculated; as a result, the little hierarchy problem is greatly reduced. This paper summarizes the results relevant to the Higgs mass prediction. A recent review describes the program more broadly. Some of the results such as the scalar masses being equal to the gravitino mass and larger than about 30 TeV, derived early in the program, hold generically for compactified string theories as well as for compactified M-theory, while some other results may or may not. If the world is described by M-theory compactified on a G2 manifold and has a Higgs mechanism (so it could be our world) then the Higgs mass was predicted to be 126 +/- 2 GeV before the measurement. The derivation has some assumptions not related to the Higgs mass, but involves no free parameters.
Using interpolators with different SU(2)_L times SU(2)_R transformation properties we study the chiral symmetry and spin contents of the rho- and rho-mesons in lattice simulations with dynamical quarks. A ratio of couplings of the $qbargamma^i{tau}q$ and $qbarsigma^{0i}{tau}q$ interpolators to a given meson state at different resolution scales tells one about the degree of chiral symmetry breaking in the meson wave function at these scales. Using a Gaussian gauge invariant smearing of the quark fields in the interpolators, we are able to extract the chiral content of mesons up to the infrared resolution of ~1 fm. In the ground state rho meson the chiral symmetry is strongly broken with comparable contributions of both the (0,1) + (1,0) and (1/2,1/2)_b chiral representations with the former being the leading contribution. In contrast, in the rho meson the degree of chiral symmetry breaking is manifestly smaller and the leading representation is (1/2,1/2)_b. Using a unitary transformation from the chiral basis to the {2S +1}L_J basis, we are able to define and measure the angular momentum content of mesons in the rest frame. This definition is different from the traditional one which uses parton distributions in the infinite momentum frame. The rho meson is practically a 3S_1 state with no obvious trace of a spin crisis. The rho meson has a sizeable contribution of the 3D_1 wave, which implies that the rho meson cannot be considered as a pure radial excitation of the rho meson.
From the parton distributions in the infinite momentum frame one finds that only about 30% of the nucleon spin is carried by spins of the valence quarks, which gave rise to the term spin crisis. Similar results hold for the lowest mesons, as it follows from the lattice simulations. We define the spin content of a meson in the rest frame and use a complete and orthogonal $bar q q$ chiral basis and a unitary transformation from the chiral basis to the (2S+1)LJ basis. Then, given a mixture of different allowed chiral representations in the meson wave function at a given resolution scale, one can obtain its spin content at this scale. To obtain the mixture of the chiral representations in the meson we measure in dynamical lattice simulations a ratio of couplings of interpolarors with different chiral structure. For the rho meson we obtain practically the 3S1 state with no trace of the spin crisis. Then a natural question arises: which definition does reflect the spin content of a hadron?
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