No Arabic abstract
Warped extra dimensions allow a novel way of solving the hierarchy problem, with all fundamental mass parameters of the theory naturally of the order of the Planck scale. The observable value of the Higgs vacuum expectation value is red-shifted, due to the localization of the Higgs field in the extra dimension. It has been recently observed that, when the gauge fields propagate in the bulk, unification of the gauge couplings may be achieved. Moreover, the propagation of fermions in the bulk allows for a simple solution to potentially dangerous proton decay problems. However, bulk gauge fields and fermions pose a phenomenological challenge, since they tend to induce large corrections to the precision electroweak observables. In this article, we study in detail the effect of gauge and fermion fields propagating in the bulk in the presence of gauge brane kinetic terms compatible with gauge coupling unification, and we present ways of obtaining a consistent description of experimental data, while allowing values of the first Kaluza Klein mode masses of the order of a few TeV.
We compute the couplings of the zero modes and first excited states of gluons, $W$s, $Z$ gauge bosons, as well as the Higgs, to the zero modes and first excited states of the third generation quarks, in an RS Gauge-Higgs unification scenario based on a bulk $SO(5)times U(1)_X$ gauge symmetry, with gauge and fermion fields propagating in the bulk. Using the parameter space consistent with electroweak precision tests and radiative electroweak symmetry breaking, we study numerically the dependence of these couplings on the parameters of our model. Furthermore, after emphasizing the presence of light excited states of the top quark, which couple strongly to the Kaluza Klein gauge bosons, the associated collider phenomenology is analyzed. In particular, we concentrate on the possible detection of the first excited state of the top, $t^1$, which tends to have a higher mass than the ones accessible via regular QCD production processes. We stress that the detection of these particles is still possible due to an increase in the pair production of $t^1$ induced by the first excited state of the gluon, $G^1$.
We show that a discrete exchange symmetry can give rise to realistic dark matter candidates in models with warped extra dimensions. We show how to realize our construction in a variety of models with warped extra dimensions and study in detail a realistic model of Gauge-Higgs Unification/composite Higgs in which the observed amount of dark matter is naturally reproduced. In this model, a realistic pattern of electroweak symmetry breaking typically occurs in a region of parameter space in which the fit to the electroweak precision observables improves, the Higgs is heavier than the experimental bound and new light quark resonances are predicted. We also quantify the fine-tuning of such scenarios, and discuss in which sense Gauge-Higgs Unification models result in a natural theory of electroweak symmetry breaking.
We reconsider the constraints on Universal Extra Dimensions (UED) models arising from precision electroweak data. We take into account the subleading contributions from new physics (expressed in terms of the X,Y ... variables), as well as two loop corrections to the Standard Model rho parameter. For the case of one extra dimension, we obtain a lower bound on the inverse compactification scale M = R^{-1} of 600 GeV (at 90% confidence level), with a Higgs mass of 115 GeV. However, in contradiction to recent claims, we find that this constraint is significantly relaxed with increasing Higgs mass, allowing for compactification scales as low as 300 GeV. LEP II data does not significantly affect these results.
In the context of a warped extra-dimension with Standard Model fields in the bulk, we obtain the general flavor structure of the Higgs couplings to fermions. These couplings will be generically misaligned with respect to the fermion mass matrix, producing large and potentially dangerous flavor changing neutral currents (FCNCs). As recently pointed out in [arXiv:0906.1542], a similar effect is expected from the point of view of a composite Higgs sector, which corresponds to a 4D theory dual to the 5D setup by the AdS-CFT correspondence. We also point out that the effect is independent of the geographical nature of the Higgs (bulk or brane localized), and specifically that it does not go away as the Higgs is pushed towards the IR boundary. The FCNCs mediated by a light enough Higgs (specially their contribution to $epsilon_K$) could become of comparable size as the ones coming from the exchange of Kaluza-Klein (KK) gluons. Moreover, both sources of flavor violation are complementary since they have inverse dependence on the 5D Yukawa couplings, such that we cannot decouple the flavor violation effects by increasing or decreasing these couplings. We also find that for KK scales of a few TeV, the Higgs couplings to third generation fermions could experience suppressions of up to 40% while the rest of diagonal couplings would suffer much milder corrections. Potential LHC signatures like the Higgs flavor violating decays $htomutau$ or $hto tc$, or the exotic top decay channel $tto c h$, are finally addressed.
Generic extensions of the Standard Model that respect baryon and lepton numbers have accidentally stable particles. Typical examples are the lightest exotic neutral fermion, or neutralino, and fields with non-trivial lepton and baryon charges. In this paper we show that an accidentally stable neutralino is a natural dark matter candidate in models with warped extra dimensions. We find that annihilation into other Kaluza-Klein resonances is often allowed and very efficient. The observed dark matter abundance may then be obtained with couplings of order unity and a compactification scale above the TeV. Light dark matter is also possible in the presence of unsuppressed couplings to the Higgs boson. In this latter case direct detection experiments will soon be able to probe a significant portion of the parameter space.