We show that weak scale vector-like fermions with order one couplings to the Higgs can lead to a novel mechanism for a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition (EWPhT), through their tendency to drive the Higgs quartic coupling negative. The
se same fermions could also enhance the loop-induced branching fraction of the Higgs into two photons, as suggested by the recent discovery of a ~125 GeV Higgs-like state at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Our results suggest that measurements of the diphoton decay rate of the Higgs and its self coupling, at the LHC or perhaps at a future lepton collider, could probe the EWPhT in the early Universe, with significant implications for the viability of electroweak baryogenesis scenarios.
It is well known that stable weak scale particles are viable dark matter candidates since the annihilation cross section is naturally about the right magnitude to leave the correct thermal residual abundance. Many dark matter searches have focused on
relatively light dark matter consistent with weak couplings to the Standard Model. However, in a strongly coupled theory, or even if the coupling is just a few times bigger than the Standard Model couplings, dark matter can have TeV-scale mass with the correct thermal relic abundance. Here we consider neutral TeV-mass scalar dark matter, its necessary interactions, and potential signals. We consider signals both with and without higher-dimension operators generated by strong coupling at the TeV scale, as might happen for example in an RS scenario. We find some potential for detection in high energy photons that depends on the dark matter distribution. Detection in positrons at lower energies, such as those PAMELA probes, would be difficult though a higher energy positron signal could in principle be detectable over background. However, a light dark matter particle with higher-dimensional interactions consistent with a TeV cutoff can in principle match PAMELA data.
In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (the MSSM), the electroweak symmetry is restored as supersymmetry-breaking terms are turned off. We describe a generic extension of the MSSM where the electroweak symmetry is broken in the supersymmetric l
imit. We call this limit the sEWSB phase, short for supersymmetric electroweak symmetry breaking. We define this phase in an effective field theory that only contains the MSSM degrees of freedom. The sEWSB vacua naturally have an inverted scalar spectrum, where the heaviest CP-even Higgs state has Standard Model-like couplings to the massive vector bosons; experimental constraints in the scalar Higgs sector are more easily satisfied than in the MSSM.
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 real
istic 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.
