FCNC and non-standard soft-breaking terms in weak-scale Supersymmetry

We study the inclusion of non-standard soft-breaking terms in the minimal SUSY extension of the SM, considering it as a model of weak-scale SUSY. These terms modify the sfermion mass matrices, which can induce new sources of flavour violation. Bounds on the new soft parameters can be estimated from current data. The results are then applied to evaluate FCNC top decay t -> c + hi (hi= h,H,A). Implications of complex soft parameters for CP violation are also addressed.Comment: Revised version (8 pages), title changed and references corrected. Presented at VIII Mexican Workshop on Particles and Fields, Merida (1999

Gauge-Higgs unification with brane kinetic terms

By identifying the Higgs field as an internal component of a higher dimensional gauge field it is possible to solve the little hierarchy problem. The construction of a realistic model that incorporates such a gauge-Higgs unification is an important problem that demands attention. In fact, several attempts in this direction have already been put forward. In this letter we single out one such attempt, a 6D SU(3) extended electroweak theory, where it is possible to obtain a Higgs mass prediction in accord with global fits. One shortcoming of the model is its prediction for the Weinberg angle, it is too large. We slightly modify the model by including brane kinetic terms in a way motivated by the orbifold action on the 6D fields. We show that in this way it is possible to obtain the correct Weinberg angle while keeping the desired results in the Higgs sector.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures. References added. Version to appear in Phys. Lett.

Higgs couplings and new signals from Flavon-Higgs mixing effects within multi-scalar models

Testing the properties of the Higgs particle discovered at the LHC and searching for new physics signals, are some of the most important tasks of Particle Physics today. Current measurements of the Higgs couplings to fermions and gauge bosons, seem consistent with the Standard Model, and when taken as a function of the particle mass, should lay on a single line. However, in models with an extended Higgs sector the diagonal Higgs couplings to up-quarks, down-quarks and charged leptons, could lay on different lines, while non-diagonal flavor-violating Higgs couplings could appear too. We describe these possibilities within the context of multi-Higgs doublet models that employ the Froggatt-Nielsen (FN) mechanism to generate the Yukawa hierarchies. Furthermore, one of the doublets can be chosen to be of the inert type, which provides a viable dark matter candidate. The mixing of the Higgs doublets with the flavon field, can provide plenty of interesting signals, including: i) small corrections to the couplings of the SM-like Higgs, ii) exotic signals from the flavon fields, iii) new signatures from the heavy Higgs bosons. These aspects are studied within a specific model with 3+1 Higgs doublets and a singlet FN field. Constraints on the model are derived from the study of K and D mixing and the Higgs search at the LHC. For last, the implications from the latter aforementioned constraints to the FCNC top decay $t\to ch$ are presented too.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures and 2 tables; v2: author added, text improved; v3: Title and Abstract slightly changed, 19 pages, references, tables and images added, additional clarifications; matches version published by Nucl. Phys.

A Model of Neutrino and Higgs Physics at the Electroweak Scale

We present and explore the Higgs physics of a model that in addition to the Standard Model fields includes a lepton number violating singlet scalar field. Based on the fact that the only experimental data we have so far for physics beyond the Standard Model is that of neutrino physics, we impose a constraint for any addition not to introduce new higher scales. As such, we introduce right-handed neutrinos with an Electroweak Scale mass. We study the Higgs decay $H \to \nu \nu$ and show that it leads to different signatures compared to those in the Standard Model, making it possible to detect them and to probe the nature of their couplings.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Corrected factor on eq. 17 and data table I. Added references. Version to appear in Physics Letters

Composite Higgs models, Dark Matter and Lambda

We suggest that dark matter can be identified with a stable composite fermion X^0, that arises within the holographic AdS/CFT models, where the Higgs boson emerges as a composite pseudo-goldstone boson. The predicted properties of X^0 satisfies the cosmological bounds, with m_X = O(TeV). Thus, through a deeper understanding of the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking, a resolution of the Dark Matter enigma is found. Furthermore, by proposing a discrete structure of the Higgs vacuum, one can get a distinct approach to the cosmological constant problem.Comment: Prepared for the Proccedings of the XIII Mexican School of Particles and Fields, Sonora (Mexico), Oct. 2-11, 2008, 8 page