If the Weak Were Strong and the Strong Were Weak
arXiv:1907.08221 · doi:10.21468/SciPostPhys.7.5.059
Abstract
We explore the phase structure of the Standard Model as the relative strengths of the SU(2) weak force and SU(3) strong force are varied. With a single generation of fermions, the structure of chiral symmetry breaking suggests that there is no phase transition as we interpolate between the SU(3)-confining phase and the SU(2)-confining phase. Remarkably, the massless left-handed neutrino, familiar in our world, morphs smoothly into a massless right-handed down-quark. With multiple generations, a similar metamorphosis occurs, but now proceeding via a phase transition. In the second half of the paper we introduce a two-parameter extension of the Standard Model, a chiral gauge theory with gauge group U(1) x Sp(r) x SU(N). We again explore the phase structure of the theory as the relative strengths of the Sp(r) and SU(N) gauge couplings vary.
21+18 pages. v2 typos corrected and reference added, version to accepted for publication in SciPost
References in corpus (13)
- "Deconfined" quantum critical points
- Time-Reversal Breaking in QCD, Walls, and Dualities in 2+1 Dimensions
- Vacuum structure of bifundamental gauge theories at finite topological angles
- A Solution to the 1+1D Gauged Chiral Fermion Problem
- The Bi-Fundamental Gauge Theory in 3+1 Dimensions: The Vacuum Structure and a Cascade
- Patterns of Symmetry Breaking in Chiral "QCD"
- Delineating the conformal window
- Dynamics and symmetries in chiral gauge theories
- Renormalization-Group Evolution of Chiral Gauge Theories
- A phase of confined electroweak force in the early Universe
- Constraints on in Extensions of the Standard Model
- Dynamical Symmetry Breaking in Chiral Gauge Theories with Direct-Product Gauge Groups
- Ultraviolet to Infrared Evolution and Nonperturbative Behavior of Chiral Gauge Theories