A Light Dilaton in Walking Gauge Theories

We analyze the existence of a dilaton in gauge theories with approximate infrared conformal symmetry. To the extent that these theories are governed in the infrared by an approximate fixed point (walking), the explicit breaking of the conformal symmetry at these scales is vanishingly small. If confinement and spontaneous chiral-symmetry breaking set in at some infrared scale, the resultant breaking of the approximate conformal symmetry can lead to the existence of a dilaton with mass parametrically small compared to the confinement scale, and potentially observable at the LHC.Comment: 5 pages, references added, final version in PR

The Zero Temperature Chiral Phase Transition in SU(N) Gauge Theories

We investigate the zero temperature chiral phase transition in an SU(N) gauge theory as the number of fermions $N_f$ is varied. We argue that there exists a critical number of fermions $N_f^c$, above which there is no chiral symmetry breaking or confinement, and below which both chiral symmetry breaking and confinement set in. We estimate $N_f^c$ and discuss the nature of the phase transition.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX, version published in PR

The Phase Structure of an SU(N) Gauge Theory with N_f Flavors

We investigate the chiral phase transition in SU(N) gauge theories as the number of quark flavors, $N_f$, is varied. We argue that the transition takes place at a large enough value of $N_f$ so that it is governed by the infrared fixed point of the $\beta$ function. We study the nature of the phase transition analytically and numerically, and discuss the spectrum of the theory as the critical value of $N_f$ is approached in both the symmetric and broken phases. Since the transition is governed by a conformal fixed point, there are no light excitations on the symmetric side. We extend previous work to include higher order effects by developing a renormalization group estimate of the critical coupling.Comment: 34 pages, 1 figure. More references adde

One Loop Effects of Non-Standard Triple Gauge Boson Vertices

Low energy effects of generic extensions of the Standard Model can be comprehensively parametrized in terms of higher dimensional effective operators. After the success of all the recent precission tests on the Standard Model, we argue that any sensible description of these extensions at the Z-scale must be stable under higher order quantum corrections. The imposition of $SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y$ gauge invariance seems to be the simplest and most natural way to fulfill this requirement. With this assumption, all the possible deviations from the standard triple gauge boson vertices can be consistently parametrized in terms of a finite set of gauge invariant operators. We deal here with those operators that do not give any tree level effect on present experimental observables and constrain them by computing their effects at the one-loop level. We conclude that for a light Higgs boson, the direct measurement at LEP200 can improve present bounds on these "blind directions", while for a heavy Higgs it is most unlikely to provide any new information.Comment: 17 pags. 2 figures not included, available on request. Latex. CERN-TH 667

Matching of U_L(3) x U_R(3) and SU_L(3) x SU_R(3) Chiral Perturbation Theories

The heavy singlet field is integrated out from the U_L(3) x U_R(3) Chiral Perturbation Theory and it is shown how its effects on the low-energy dynamics are reduced to effective vertices for the light mesons. The results are matched against the standard SU_L(3) x SU_R(3) Chiral Perturbation Theory in order to establish the relations between the coupling constants from both theories to one-loop level accuracy.Comment: 10 pages, 1 eps figure. Some comments rephrase

A Comment on the Zero Temperature Chiral Phase Transition in SU(N)SU(N) Gauge Theories

Recently Appelquist, Terning, and Wijewardhana investigated the zero temperature chiral phase transition in SU(N) gauge theory as the number of fermions N_f is varied. They argued that there is a critical number of fermions N^c_f, above which there is no chiral symmetry breaking and below which chiral symmetry breaking and confinement set in. They further argued that that the transition is not second order even though the order parameter for chiral symmetry breaking vanishes continuously as N_f approaches N^c_f on the broken side. In this note I propose a simple physical picture for the spectrum of states as N_f approaches N^c_f from below (i.e. on the broken side) and argue that this picture predicts very different and non-universal behavior than is the case in an ordinary second order phase transition. In this way the transition can be continuous without behaving conventionally. I further argue that this feature results from the (presumed) existence of an infrared Banks-Zaks fixed point of the gauge coupling in the neighborhood of the chiral transition and therefore depends on the long-distance nature of the non-abelian gauge force.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Fermion Masses and Mixing in Extended Technicolor Models

We study fermion masses and mixing angles, including the generation of a seesaw mechanism for the neutrinos, in extended technicolor (ETC) theories. We formulate an approach to these problems that relies on assigning right-handed $Q=-1/3$ quarks and charged leptons to ETC representations that are conjugates of those of the corresponding left-handed fermions. This leads to a natural suppression of these masses relative to the $Q=2/3$ quarks, as well as the generation of quark mixing angles, both long-standing challenges for ETC theories. Standard-model-singlet neutrinos are assigned to ETC representations that provide a similar suppression of neutrino Dirac masses, as well as the possibility of a realistic seesaw mechanism with no mass scale above the highest ETC scale of roughly $10^3$ TeV. A simple model based on the ETC group SU(5) is constructed and analyzed. This model leads to non-trivial, but not realistic mixing angles in the quark and lepton sectors. It can also produce sufficiently light neutrinos, although not simultaneously with a realistic quark spectrum. We discuss several aspects of the phenomenology of this class of models.Comment: 74 pages, revtex with embedded figure

Beta Functions of Orbifold Theories and the Hierarchy Problem

We examine a class of gauge theories obtained by projecting out certain fields from an N=4 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theory. These theories are non-supersymmetric and in the large N limit are known to be conformal. Recently it was proposed that the hierarchy problem could be solved by embedding the standard model in a theory of this kind with finite N. In order to check this claim one must find the conformal points of the theory. To do this we calculate the one-loop beta functions for the Yukawa and quartic scalar couplings. We find that with the beta functions set to zero the one-loop quadratic divergences are not canceled at sub-leading order in N; thus the hierarchy between the weak scale and the Planck scale is not stabilized unless N is of the order 10^28 or larger. We also find that at sub-leading orders in N renormalization induces new interactions, which were not present in the original Lagrangian.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX, 6 figures. Minor clarifications, references adde

The static quark-antiquark potential in QCD to three loops

The static potential between an infinitely heavy quark and antiquark is derived in the framework of perturbative QCD to three loops by performing a full calculation of the two-loop diagrams and using the renormalization group. The contribution of massless fermions is included.Comment: Latex, 11 pages, 3 figures included. The complete paper, including figures, is also available via anonymous ftp at ftp://ttpux2.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/ , or via www at http://www-ttp.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/cgi-bin/preprints/ . Revised version, essentially identical to the version published in Physical Review Letter

Axigluons cannot explain the observed top quark forward-backward asymmetry

We study an SU(3)^2 axigluon model introduced by Frampton, Shu, and Wang to explain the recent Fermilab Tevatron observation of a significant positive enhancement in the top quark forward-backward asymmetry relative to standard model predictions. First, we demonstrate that data on neutral B_d-meson mixing excludes the region of model parameter space where the top asymmetry is predicted to be the largest. Keeping the gauge couplings below the critical value that would lead to fermion condensation imposes further limits at large axigluon mass, while precision electroweak constraints on the model are relatively mild. Furthermore, by considering an extension to an SU(3)^3 color group, we demonstrate that embedding the model in an extra-dimensional framework can only dilute the axigluon effect on the forward-backward asymmetry. We conclude that axigluon models are unlikely to be the source of the observed top quark asymmetry.Comment: 12 pages, 7 eps figures included. Minor changes to conform with published versio