Phenomenology of the Littlest Higgs with T-Parity

Little Higgs models offer an interesting approach to weakly coupled electroweak symmetry breaking without fine tuning. The original little Higgs models were plagued by strong constraints from electroweak precision data which required a fine tuning to be reintroduced. An economical solution to this problem is to introduce a discrete symmetry (analogous to R-parity of SUSY) called T-parity. T-parity not only eliminates most constraints from electroweak precision data, but it also leads to a promising dark matter candidate. In this paper we investigate the dark matter candidate in the littlest Higgs model with T-parity. We find bounds on the symmetry breaking scale f as a function of the Higgs mass by calculating the relic density. We begin the study of the LHC phenomenology of the littlest Higgs model with T-parity. We find that the model offers an interesting collider signature that has a generic missing energy signal which could "fake" SUSY at the LHC. We also investigate the properties of the heavy partner of the top quark which is common to all littlest Higgs models, and how its properties are modified with the introduction of T-parity. We include an appendix with a list of Feynman rules specific to the littlest Higgs with T-parity to facilitate further study.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures; dark matter bounds revised; comphep model files made publicly available at http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/theory/tparity

Physics Needs for Future Accelerators

Contents: 1. Prologomena to any meta future physics 1.1 Physics needs for building future accelerators 1.2 Physics needs for funding future accelerators 2. Physics questions for future accelerators 2.1 Crimes and misapprehensions 2.1.1 Organized religion 2.1.2 Feudalism 2.1.3 Trotsky was right 2.2 The Standard Model as an effective field theory 2.3 What is the scale of new physics? 2.4 What could be out there? 2.5 Model-independent conclusions 3. Future accelerators 3.1 What is the physics driving the LHC? 3.2 What is the physics driving the LC? 3.2.1 Higgs physics is golden 3.2.2 LHC won't be sufficient to unravel the new physics as the TeV scale 3.2.3 LC precision measurements can pin down new physics scales 3.3 Why a Neutrino Factory? 3.4 Pushing the energy frontierComment: 19 pages, 7 figures. Talk presented at the XIX International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies (Lepton-Photon '99), Stanford University, August 9-14, 199

Pseudonatural Inflation

We study how to obtain a sufficiently flat inflaton potential that is natural from the particle physics point of view. Supersymmetry, which is broken during inflation, cannot protect the potential against non-renormalizable operators violating slow-roll. We are therefore led to consider models based on non-linearly realized symmetries. The basic scenario with a single four-dimensional pseudo Nambu Goldstone boson requires the spontaneous breaking scale to be above the Planck scale, which is beyond the range of validity of the field theory description, so that quantum gravity corrections are not under control. A nice way to obtain consistent models with large field values is to consider simple extensions in extra-dimensional setups. We also consider the minimal structures necessary to obtain purely four-dimensional models with spontaneous breaking scale below M_P; we show that they require an approximate symmetry that is supplemented by either the little-Higgs mechanism or supersymmetry to give trustworthy scenarios.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures. v2: minor changes, ref. added, accepted for JCA

Ancilla-assisted sequential approximation of nonlocal unitary operations

We consider the recently proposed "no-go" theorem of Lamata et al [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 180506 (2008)] on the impossibility of sequential implementation of global unitary operations with the aid of an itinerant ancillary system and view the claim within the language of Kraus representation. By virtue of an extremely useful tool for analyzing entanglement properties of quantum operations, namely, operator-Schmidt decomposition, we provide alternative proof to the "no-go" theorem and also study the role of initial correlations between the qubits and ancilla in sequential preparation of unitary entanglers. Despite the negative response from the "no-go" theorem, we demonstrate explicitly how the matrix-product operator(MPO) formalism provides a flexible structure to develop protocols for sequential implementation of such entanglers with an optimal fidelity. The proposed numerical technique, that we call variational matrix-product operator (VMPO), offers a computationally efficient tool for characterizing the "globalness" and entangling capabilities of nonlocal unitary operations.Comment: Slightly improved version as published in Phys. Rev.

Bigravity and Lorentz-violating Massive Gravity

Bigravity is a natural arena where a non-linear theory of massive gravity can be formulated. If the interaction between the metrics $f$ and $g$ is non-derivative, spherically symmetric exact solutions can be found. At large distances from the origin, these are generically Lorentz-breaking bi-flat solutions (provided that the corresponding vacuum energies are adjusted appropriately). The spectrum of linearized perturbations around such backgrounds contains a massless as well as a massive graviton, with {\em two} physical polarizations each. There are no propagating vectors or scalars, and the theory is ghost free (as happens with certain massive gravities with explicit breaking of Lorentz invariance). At the linearized level, corrections to GR are proportional to the square of the graviton mass, and so there is no vDVZ discontinuity. Surprisingly, the solution of linear theory for a static spherically symmetric source does {\em not} agree with the linearization of any of the known exact solutions. The latter coincide with the standard Schwarzschild-(A)dS solutions of General Relativity, with no corrections at all. Another interesting class of solutions is obtained where $f$ and $g$ are proportional to each other. The case of bi-de Sitter solutions is analyzed in some detail.Comment: 25 pages. v3 Typos corrected, references added. v4 Introduction extende

Higgs Mechanism and Bulk Gauge Boson Masses in the Randall-Sundrum Model

Assuming the breaking of gauge symmetries by the Higgs mechanism, we consider the associated bulk gauge boson masses in the Randall-Sundrum background. With the Higgs field confined on the TeV-brane, the W and Z boson masses can naturally be an order of magnitude smaller than their Kaluza-Klein excitation masses. Current electroweak precision data requires the lowest excited state to lie above about 30 TeV, with fermions on the TeV-brane. This bound is reduced to about 10 TeV if the fermions reside sufficiently close to the Planck-brane. Thus, some tuning of parameters is needed. We also discuss the bulk Higgs case, where the bounds are an order of magnitude smaller.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, using REVTeX, slightly expanded version to appear in Phys. Rev.

TeV Symmetry and the Little Hierarchy Problem

Constraints from precision electroweak measurements reveal no evidence for new physics up to 5 - 7 TeV, whereas naturalness requires new particles at around 1 TeV to address the stability of the electroweak scale. We show that this "little hierarchy problem" can be cured by introducing a symmetry for new particles at the TeV scale. As an example, we construct a little Higgs model with this new symmetry, dubbed T-parity, which naturally solves the little hierarchy problem and, at the same time, stabilize the electroweak scale up to 10 TeV. The model has many important phenomenological consequences, including consistency with the precision data without any fine-tuning, a stable weakly-interacting particle as the dark matter candidate, as well as collider signals completely different from existing little Higgs models, but rather similar to the supersymmetric theories with conserved R-parity.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure; v.2: typos corrected and various minor modifications/expansions on the presentations. now 16 pages and 1 figure. version to appear on JHE

The importance of tau leptons for supersymmetry searches at the Tevatron

Supersymmetry is perhaps most effectively probed at the Tevatron through production and decay of weak gauginos. Most of the analyses of weak gaugino observables require electrons or muons in the final state. However, it is possible that the gauginos will decay primarily to tau leptons, thus complicating the search for supersymmetry. The motivating reasons for high tau multiplicity final states are discussed in three approaches to supersymmetry model building: minimal supergravity, gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, and more minimal supersymmetry. The concept of ``e/mu/tau candidate'' is introduced, and an observable with three e/mu/tau candidates is defined in analog to the trilepton observable. The maximum mass reach for supersymmetry is then estimated when gaugino decays to tau leptons have full branching fraction.Comment: 9 pages, latex, 2 figures. Presented at the D0 New Phenomena Workshop, UC Davis, 26-28 March 199

Little Inflatons and Gauge Inflation

Cosmological inflation gives a natural answer for a variety of cosmological questions, including the horizon problem, the flatness problem, and others. However, inflation yields new questions relating to the flatness of the inflaton potential. Recent studies of ``little'' fields, a special class of pseudo-Goldstone bosons, have shown it is possible to protect the mass of a field while still yielding order one interactions with other fields. In this paper, we will show that ``little inflatons'' are natural candidates for the slow roll field of hybrid inflation models. We consider both supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric models, and give a simple examples based on approximate Abelian symmetries which solve the inflaton flatness problem of supergravity. We also present hybrid models in which components of gauge fields in higher dimensions play the role of the inflaton. Protected by higher-dimensional gauge symmetry, they, too, naturally have large couplings while suppressed mass terms. We summarize the implications of the new WMAP data on such models.Comment: 25 pages; corrections, references added, discussion modified including consideration of WMAP result

Holomorphic selection rules, the origin of the mu term, and thermal inflation

When an abelian gauge theory with integer charges is spontaneously broken by the expectation value of a charge Q field, there remains a Z_Q discrete symmetry. In a supersymmetric theory, holomorphy adds additional constraints on the operators that can appear in the effective superpotential. As a result, operators with the same mass dimension but opposite sign charges can have very different coupling strengths. In the present work we characterize the operator hierarchies in the effective theory due to holomorphy, and show that there exist simple relationships between the size of an operator and its mass dimension and charge. Using such holomorphy-induced operator hierarchies, we construct a simple model with a naturally small supersymmetric mu term. This model also provides a concrete realization of late-time thermal inflation, which has the ability to solve the gravitino and moduli problems of weak-scale supersymmetry.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur