Variations on Photon Vacuum Polarization

I provide updates for the theoretical predictions of the muon and electron anomalous magnetic moments, for the shift in the fine structure constant $\alpha(M_Z)$ and for the weak mixing parameter $\sin^2 \Theta_W(M_Z)$. Phenomenological results for Euclidean time correlators, the key objects in the lattice QCD approach to hadronic vacuum polarization, are briefly considered. Furthermore, I present a list of isospin breaking and electromagnetic corrections for the lepton moments, which may be used to supplement lattice QCD results obtained in the isospin limit and without the e.m. corrections.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

The Role of Mesons in Muon g-2

The muon anomaly $a_\mu=(g_\mu-2)/2$ showing a persisting 3 to 4 $\sigma$ deviation between the SM prediction and the experiment is one of the most promising signals for physics beyond the SM. As is well known, the hadronic uncertainties are limiting the accuracy of the Standard Model prediction. Therefore a big effort is going on to improve the evaluations of hadronic effects in order to keep up with the 4-fold improved precision expected from the new Fermilab measurement in the near future. A novel complementary type experiment planned at J-PARC in Japan, operating with ultra cold muons, is expected to be able to achieve the same accuracy but with completely different systematics. So exciting times in searching for New Physics are under way. I discuss the role of meson physics in calculations of the hadronic part of the muon g-2. The improvement is expected to substantiate the present deviation $\Delta a_\mu^{\rm New \ Physics}=\Delta a_\mu^{\rm Experiment}- \Delta a_\mu^{\rm Standard \ Model}$ to a 6 to 10 standard deviation effect, provided hadronic uncertainties can be reduce by a factor two. This concerns the hadronic vacuum polarization as well as the hadronic light-by-light scattering contributions, both to a large extent determined by the low lying meson spectrum. Better meson production data and progress in modeling meson form factors could greatly help to improve the precision and reliability of the SM prediction of $a_\mu$ and thereby provide more information on what is missing in the SM.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Higgs inflation and the cosmological constant

The Higgs not only induces the masses of all SM particles, the Higgs, given its special mass value, is the natural candidate for the inflaton and in fact is ruling the evolution of the early universe, by providing the necessary dark energy which remains the dominant energy density. SM running couplings not only allow us to extrapolate SM physics up to the Planck scale, but equally important they are triggering the Higgs mechanism. This is possible by the fact that the bare mass term in the Higgs potential changes sign at about mu_0 = 1.4x10^16 GeV and in the symmetric phase is enhanced by quadratic terms in the Planck mass. Such a huge Higgs mass term is able to play a key role in triggering inflation in the early universe. In this article we extend our previous investigation by working out the details of a Higgs inflation scenario. We show how different terms contributing to the Higgs Lagrangian are affecting inflation. Given the SM and its extrapolation to scales mu>mu_0 we find a calculable cosmological constant V(0) which is weakly scale dependent and actually remains large during inflation. This is different to the Higgs fluctuation field dependent Delta V(phi), which decays exponentially during inflation, and actually would not provide a sufficient amount of inflation. The fluctuation field has a different effective mass which shifts the bare Higgs transition point to a lower value mu'_0 = 7.7x10^14 GeV. The vacuum energy V(0) being proportional to M_Pl^4 has a coefficient which vanishes near the Higgs transition point, such that the bare and the renormalized cosmological constant match at this point. The role of the Higgs in reheating and baryogenesis is emphasized.Comment: 39 pages, 25 figures, 1 table. Replacement: typos corrected, Eq (3) corrected, notation adjuste

About the role of the Higgs boson in the evolution of the early universe

After the discovery of the Higgs particle the most relevant structures of the SM have been verified and for the first time we know all parameters of the SM within remarkable accuracy. Together with recent calculations of the SM renormalization group coefficients up to three loops we can safely extrapolate running couplings high up in energy. Assuming that the SM is a low energy effective theory of a cutoff theory residing at the Planck scale, we are able to calculate the effective bare parameters of the underlying cutoff system. It turns out that the effective bare mass term changes sign not far below the Planck scale, which means that in the early universe the SM was in the symmetric phase. The sign-flip, which is a result of a conspiracy between the SM couplings and their screening/antiscreening behavior, triggers the Higgs mechanism. Above the Higgs phase transition the bare mass term in the Higgs potential must have had a large positive value, enhanced by the quadratic divergence of the bare Higgs mass. Likewise the quartically enhanced positive vacuum energy density is present in the symmetric phase. The Higgs system thus provides the large dark energy density in the early universe, which triggers slow-roll inflation, i.e. the SM Higgs is the inflaton scalar field. Reheating is dominated by the decay of the heavy Higgses into (in the symmetric phase) massless top/anti-top quark pairs. The new scenario possibly could explain the baryon-asymmetry essentially in terms of SM physicsComment: 19 pages, 6 figure

The hierarchy problem and the cosmological constant problem in the Standard Model

We argue that the SM in the Higgs phase does not suffer form a "hierarchy problem" and that similarly the "cosmological constant problem" resolves itself if we understand the SM as a low energy effective theory emerging from a cut-off medium at the Planck scale. We discuss these issues under the condition of a stable Higgs vacuum, which allows to extend the SM up to the Planck length. The bare Higgs boson mass then changes sign below the Planck scale, such the the SM in the early universe is in the symmetric phase. The cut-off enhanced Higgs mass term as well as the quartically enhanced cosmological constant term trigger the inflation of the early universe. The coefficients of the shift between bare and renormalized Higgs mass as well as of the shift between bare and renormalized vacuum energy density exhibit close-by zeros at some point below the Planck scale. The zeros are matching points between short distance and the renormalized low energy quantities. Since inflation tunes the total energy density to take the critical value of a flat universe Omega_tot=rho_tot/rho_crit=Omega_Lambda+Omega_matter+Omega_radiation}=1 it is obvious that Omega_Lambda today is of order Omega_tot given that 1>Omega_matter, Omega_radiation>0, which saturate the total density to about 26 % only, the dominant part being dark matter(21 %).Comment: 22 pages, 2 figure

Photon radiation in e+e−→e^+e^-\to hadrons at low energies with CARLOMAT 3.1

We present a sample of results for the cross sections of several processes of low energetic $e^+e^-$ annihilation into final states containing pions accompanied by one or two photons, or a light lepton pair. The results, which have been obtained with a new version of a multipurpose Monte Carlo program CARLOMAT, labelled 3.1, demonstrate new capabilities of the program which, among others, include a possibility of taking into account either the initial or final state radiation separately, or both at a time, and a possibility of inclusion of the electromagnetic charged pion form factor for processes with charged pion pairs. We also discuss some problems related to the $U(1)$ electromagnetic gauge invariance.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figures, matches version published in Eur. Phys. J.

Is the Higgs Boson the Master of the Universe?

The discovery of the Higgs particle has yielded a specific value for the mass of the Higgs boson, which, depending on some technical details in the calculation of the $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$ parameters (relevant for the high energy range) from the physical parameters (measured in low energy range), allows the Standard Model (SM) to hold up to the Planck scale about $\Lambda_{\rm Pl} \sim 10^{19}~{\rm GeV}$. One then has the possibility that the Higgs boson not only provides mass for all SM-particles but very likely also has supplied dark energy that inflated the young universe shortly after the Big Bang. The SM Higgs boson is a natural candidate for the Inflaton, and the Higgs boson decays are able to reheat the universe after inflation. I argue that the structures of the SM evolve naturally from a Planck cutoff medium (ether) and thus find their explanation. That the SM is an emergent structure is also strongly supported by Veltman's derivation of the SM from some general principles, which we can understand as the result of a low-energy expansion. I emphasize the role of the hierarchy problem and the problem of the cosmological constant as causal for the Higgs inflation scenario. After the discovery of the Higgs boson at 125 GeV, and considering the absence of beyond the SM particles at the LHC, a new view on the SM of particle physics and its role in early cosmology has become indispensable. Very likely, the spectacular Higgs discovery turned out to have completed the SM in an unexpected way, revealing it as an inescapable emergence which shapes the early universe.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure

The Standard Model of particle physics as a conspiracy theory and the possible role of the Higgs boson in the evolution of the early universe

I am considering Veltman's "The Infrared - Ultraviolet Connection" addressing the issue of quadratic divergences and the related huge radiative correction predicted by the electroweak Standard Model (SM) in the relationship between the bare and the renormalized theory, commonly called "the hierarchy problem" which usually is claimed that this has to be cured. After the discovery of the Higgs particle at CERN, which essentially completed the SM, an amazing interrelation of the leading interaction strengths of the gauge bosons, the top-quark and the Higgs boson showed up amounting that the SM allows for a perturbative extrapolation of the running couplings up to the Planck scale. The central question concerns the stability of the electroweak vacuum, which requires that the running Higgs self-coupling stays positive. Although several evaluations seem to favor the meta-stability within the experimental and theoretical parameter-uncertainties, one should not exclude the possibility that other experiments and improved matching conditions will be able to establish the absolute stability of the SM vacuum in the future. I will discuss the stable vacuum scenario and its impact on early cosmology, revealing the Higgs boson as the inflaton. It turns out that the Standard Model's presumed "hierarchy problem" and similarly the "cosmological constant problem" resolve themselves when we understand the SM as a low energy effective tail that is emergent from a cutoff-medium at the Planck scale. "The Infrared - Ultraviolet Connection" conveyed by the Higgs boson mass renormalization appears in a new light when the energy dependence of the SM couplings is taken into account. The bare Higgs boson mass square then changes sign below the Planck scale where it is activating the Higgs mechanism.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Acta Physica Polonica B. Invited talk at the Workshop "Naturalness, Hierarchy and Fine Tuning" RWTH Aachen, 28 February 2018 to 2 March 2018, Aachen,Germa

Electroweak effective couplings for future precision experiments

The leading hadronic effects in electroweak theory derive from vacuum polarization which are non-perturbative hadronic contributions to the running of the gauge couplings, the electromagnetic alpha_{em}(s) and the SU(2)_L coupling alpha_2(s). I will report on my recent package "alphaQED", which besides the effective fine structure constant alpha_{em}(s) also allows for a fairly precise calculation of the SU(2)_L gauge coupling alpha_2(s). I will briefly review the role, future requirements and possibilities. Applied together with the "Rhad" package by Harlander and Steinhauser, the package allows to calculate all SM running couplings as well as running sin^2 Theta versions with state-of-the-art accuracy.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure