Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published December 3, 2018 | Submitted
Report Open

Mass Hierarchy and Vacuum Energy

Abstract

A hierarchically small weak scale does not generally coincide with enhanced symmetry, but it may still be exceptional with respect to vacuum energy. By analyzing the classical vacuum energy as a function of parameters such as the Higgs mass, we show how near-criticality, i.e. fine-tuning, corresponds universally to boundaries where the vacuum energy transitions from exactly flat to concave down. In the presence of quantum corrections, these boundary regions can easily be perturbed to become maxima of the vacuum energy. After introducing a dynamical scalar field $\phi$ which scans the Higgs sector parameters, we propose several possible mechanisms by which this field could be localized to the maximum. One possibility is that the $\phi$ potential has many vacua, with those near the maximum vacuum energy expanding faster during a long period of cosmic inflation and hence dominating the volume of the Universe. Alternately, we describe scenarios in which vacua near the maximum could be anthropically favored, due to selection of the late-time cosmological constant or dark matter density. Independent of these specific approaches, the physical value of the weak scale in our proposal is generated naturally and dynamically from loops of heavy states coupled to the Higgs. These states are predicted to be a loop factor heavier than in models without this mechanism, avoiding tension with experimental null results.

Additional Information

The authors thank Nathaniel Craig, Michael Geller, Eric Kuflik and Grant Remmen for helpful discussions. CC is supported by a Sloan Research Fellowship and a DOE Early Career Award under Grant No. DE-SC0010255. PS is supported by the DuBridge Fellowship of the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics, under Award Number DE-SC0011632.

Attached Files

Submitted - 1811.12390.pdf

Files

1811.12390.pdf
Files (2.6 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:d737c3c1c081414646e72ed678899824
2.6 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
February 10, 2024