Indications on the Higgs boson mass from lattice simulations

The `triviality' of $\Phi^4_4$ has been traditionally interpreted within perturbation theory where the prediction for the Higgs boson mass depends on the magnitude of the ultraviolet cutoff $\Lambda$. This approach crucially assumes that the vacuum field and its quantum fluctuations rescale in the same way. The results of the present lattice simulation, confirming previous numerical indications, show that this assumption is not true. As a consequence, large values of the Higgs mass $m_H$ can coexist with the limit $\Lambda\to \infty$. As an example, by extrapolating to the Standard Model our results obtained in the Ising limit of the one-component theory, one can obtain a value as large as $m_H=760 \pm 21$ GeV, independently of $\Lambda$.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, Lattice2003(higgs

Exploring the Dynamics of Three-Dimensional Lattice Gauge Theories by External Fields

We investigate the dynamics of three-dimensional lattice gauge theories by means of an external Abelian magnetic field. For the SU(2) lattice gauge theory we find evidence of the unstable modes.Comment: 3 pages, PostScript. Contribution to the LATTICE 93 Conference (Dallas, U.S.A., September 1993) preprint BARI-TH-162/9

On the Meissner effect in SU(2) lattice gauge theory

We investigate the dual superconductor model of color confinement in SU(2) lattice gauge theory. We find that the transverse distribution of the longitudinal chromoelectric field between static quarks displays the dual Meissner effect. We also give evidence that the problem of color confinement could be approached in the framework of the 't~Hooft's Abelian projection.Comment: 3 pages, PostScript. Contribution to the LATTICE 93 Conference (Dallas, U.S.A., September 1993) preprint BARI-TH-161/9

Generalized Gaussian Effective Potential: Low Dimensional Scalar Fields

We study a generalization of the Gaussian effective potential for self-interacting scalar fields in one and two spatial dimensions. We compute the two-loop corrections and discuss the renormalization of the generalized Gaussian effective potential.Comment: tex, 10 pages + 4 Postscript figures include

Investigations on the deconfining phase transition in QCD

We investigate the deconfining phase transition in SU(3) pure gauge theory and in full QCD with two flavors of staggered fermions by means of a gauge invariant thermal partition functional. In the pure gauge case our finite size scaling analysis is in agreement with the well known weak first order phase transition. In the case of 2 flavors full QCD we find that the phase transition is consistent with weak first order, contrary to the expectation of a crossover for not too large quark masses.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, Lattice2003(topology

Nature and Raman signatures of the Higgs amplitude mode in the coexisting superconducting and charge-density-wave state

We investigate the behavior of the Higgs (amplitude) mode when superconductivity emerges on a preexisting charge-density-wave state. We show that the weak overdamped square-root singularity of the amplitude fluctuations in a standard BCS superconductor is converted in a sharp, undamped power-law divergence in the coexisting state, reminiscent of the Higgs behavior in Lorentz-invariant theories. This effect reflects in a strong superconducting resonance in the Raman spectra, both for an electronic and a phononic mechanism leading to the Raman visibility of the Higgs. In the latter case, our results are relevant to the interpretation of the Raman spectra measured experimentally in NbSe2.Comment: Extended version, accepted for publication in PR

Non-linear optical effects and third-harmonic generation in superconductors: Cooper-pairs vs Higgs mode contribution

The recent observation of a transmitted Thz pulse oscillating at three times the frequency of the incident light paves the way to a new protocol to access resonant excitations in a superconductor. Here we show that this non-linear optical process is dominated by light-induced excitation of Cooper pairs, in analogy with a standard Raman experiment. The collective amplitude (Higgs) fluctuations of the superconducting order parameter give in general a smaller contribution, unless one designs the experiment by combining properly the light polarization with the lattice symmetry.Comment: Slightly revised introduction, to appear on Phys. Rev. B. as Rapid Communicatio