Running Gauge Coupling Research Articles

Gauge coupling unification in six dimensions

We compute the one-loop gauge couplings in six-dimensional non-Abelian gauge theories on the ${T}^{2}/{Z}_{2}$ orbifold with general GUT breaking boundary conditions. For concreteness, we apply the obtained general formulas to the gauge coupling running in a 6D $SO(10)$ orbifold GUT where the GUT group is broken down to the standard model gauge group up to an extra $U(1)$. We find that the one-loop corrections depend on the parity matrices encoding the orbifold boundary conditions as well as the volume and shape moduli of extra dimensions. When the $U(1)$ is broken by the VEV of bulk singlets, the accompanying extra color triplets also affect the unification of the gauge couplings. In this case, the $B\ensuremath{-}L$ breaking scale compatible with the gauge coupling unification is sensitive to the change of the compactification scales.

Hidden sector renormalization of MSSM scalar masses

Running of gauge couplings in the MSSM from a unified value at high energies leads to a successful prediction of the weak mixing angle. Supersymmetric models at the TeV scale may contain further hints of high scale physics, such as the pattern of superpartner masses when evolved from the TeV scale to a high scale using the renormalization group. This running is traditionally assumed to be independent of effects in the hidden sector. In this paper we re-examine this assumption, and conclude that the predictions for scalar masses may depend sensitively on the details of the mechanism of supersymmetry breaking. We identify mass relations that persist even when such effects are taken into account.

Gauge Dependence of Gravitational Correction to Running of Gauge Couplings

Recently an interesting idea has been put forward by Robinson and Wilczek that the incorporation of quantized gravity in the framework of Abelian and non-Abelian gauge theories results in a correction to the running of gauge coupling and, as a consequence, increase the grand unification scale and asymptotic freedom. In this Letter it is shown by explicit calculations that this correction depends on the choice of gauge.

Probing the gravitational scale via running gauge couplings

According to a recent paper by Robinson and Wilczek, the leading gravitational corrections to the running of gauge couplings tend to reduce the values of the couplings at energies below the gravitational scale, defined to be the energy above which gravity becomes strongly interacting. If the physical gravitational scale is sufficiently low, as conjectured in certain extra-dimension models, this behavior of the gauge couplings can be measured in future high energy experiments, providing a way to determine where the gravitational scale lies. We estimate that measurements of the fine structure constant at the Large Hadron Collider and the proposed International Linear Collider energies can probe the gravitational scale up to several hundred TeV, which will be the most stringent test that can be obtained in the conceivable future.

Running coupling at finite temperature and chiral symmetry restoration in QCD

Abstract We analyze the running gauge coupling at finite temperature for QCD, using the functional renormalization group. The running of the coupling is calculated for all scales and temperatures. At finite temperature, the coupling is governed by a fixed point of the 3-dimensional theory for scales smaller than the corresponding temperature. The running coupling can drive the quark sector to criticality, resulting in chiral symmetry breaking. Our results provide for a quantitative determination of the phase boundary in the plane of temperature and number of massless flavors. Using the experimental value of the coupling at the τ mass scale as the only input parameter, we obtain, e.g., for N f = 3 massless flavors a critical temperature of T cr ≈ 148 MeV in good agreement with lattice simulations.

Gauge coupling unification in a 6DSO(10)orbifold GUT

We consider the gauge coupling running in a six-dimensional SO ( 10 ) orbifold GUT model. The bulk gauge symmetry is broken down to the standard model gauge group with an extra U ( 1 ) X by orbifold boundary conditions and the extra U ( 1 ) X is further broken through the U ( 1 ) B – L breaking with bulk hyper multiplets. We obtain the corrections of Kaluza–Klein massive modes to the running of the gauge couplings and discuss their implication to the successful gauge coupling unification.

Gravitational Correction to Running of Gauge Couplings

We calculate the contribution of graviton exchange to the running of gauge couplings at lowest non-trivial order in perturbation theory. Including this contribution in a theory that features coupling constant unification does not upset this unification, but rather shifts the unification scale. When extrapolated formally, the gravitational correction renders all gauge couplings asymptotically free.

Chiral phase boundary of QCD at finite temperature

We analyze the approach to chiral symmetry breaking in QCD at finite temperature, using the functional renormalization group. We compute the running gauge coupling in QCD for all temperatures and scales within a simple truncated renormalization flow. At finite temperature, the coupling is governed by a fixed point of the 3-dimensional theory for scales smaller than the corresponding temperature. Chiral symmetry breaking is approached if the running coupling drives the quark sector to criticality. We quantitatively determine the phase boundary in the plane of temperature and number of flavors and find good agreement with lattice results. As a generic and testable prediction, we observe that our underlying IR fixed-point scenario leaves its imprint in the shape of the phase boundary near the critical flavor number: here, the scaling of the critical temperature is determined by the zero-temperature IR critical exponent of the running coupling.

Top mode standard model in six dimensions

We construct a top-mode standard model where the third generation fermions and the SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y gauge bosons are put on a 6-dimensional brane(5-brane) with the extra dimensions compactified on the TeV scale(R_5^{-1}=R_6^{-1} \equiv R^{-1}= 1-10 TeV), while only the gluons live in a compactified 8-dimensional bulk(R_7^{-1}=R_8^{-1} \equiv \Lambda \gg R^{-1}).On the 5-brane, Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes of the bulk gluons give rise to induced four-fermion interactions which, combined with the gauge interactions, are shown to be strong enough to trigger the top quark condensate, based on the dynamics of 6-dimensional gauged Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model. Moreover, we can use a freedom of the brane positions to tune the four-fermion coupling close to the critical line of 6-dimensional gauged NJL model, so that the gap equation can ensure the top condensate on the weak scale while keeping other fermions massless. There actually exists a scale (``tMAC scale''), \Lambda_{\rm tM} = (7.8-11.0) R^{-1}, where the running gauge couplings combined with the induced four-fermion interactions trigger only the top condensate while no bottom and tau condensates. Furthermore, presence of such explicit four-fermion interactions enables us to formulate straightforwardly the compositeness conditions at \Lambda=\Lambda_{\rm tM}, which, through the renormalization-group analysis, yields a prediction of masses of the top quark and the Higgs boson, m_t = 177 - 187 GeV and m_H = 183 - 207 GeV.

Noncommutativity, extra dimensions, and power law running in the infrared

We investigate the running gauge couplings of U(N) noncommutative gauge theories with compact extra dimensions. Power law running of the trace-U(1) gauge coupling in the ultraviolet is communicated to the infrared by ultraviolet/infrared mixing, whereas the SU(N) factors run exactly as in the commutative theory. This results in theories where the experimentally excluded trace-U(1) factors decouple with a power law running of the momentum in the extreme infrared, effectively hiding them from detection.

Cornwall–Jackiw–Tomboulis Effective Potential for Quark Propagator inReal-Time Thermal Field Theory and Landau Gauge**The project supported byNational Natural Science Foundation of China

We complete the derivation of the Cornwall–Jackiw–Tombouliseffective potential for quark propagator at finite temperature andfinite quark chemical potential in the real-time formalism ofthermal field theory and in Landau gauge. In the approximationthat the function A(p2) in inverse quark propagator is replacedby unity, by means of the running gauge coupling and the quarkmass function invariant under the renormalization group in zerotemperature Quantum Chromadynamics (QCD), we obtain a calculableexpression for the thermal effective potential, which will be auseful means to research chiral phase transition in QCD in thereal-time formalism.

High scale perturbative gauge coupling in R-parity conserving SUSY SO(10) with longer proton lifetime

It is well known that in single step breaking of R-parity conserving SUSY SO(10) that needs the Higgs representations $126+\bar 126$ the GUT-gauge coupling violates the perturbative constraint at mass scales few times larger than the GUT scale. Therefore, if the SO(10) gauge coupling is to remain perturbative up the Planck scale(=2x10^{18} GeV), the scale $M_U$ of GUT symmetry breaking is to be bounded from below. The bound depends upon specific Higgs representations used for SO(10) symmetry breaking but, as we find, can not be lower than $1.5x10^{17}$ GeV. In order to obtain such high unification scale we propose a two-step SO(10) breaking through $SU(2)_LXSU(2)_RXU(1)_{B-L}XSU(3)_C(g_{2L} \neq g_{2R})$ intermediate gauge symmetry. We estimate potential threshold and gravitational corrections to the running of gauge couplings and show that they can make the picture of perturbative GUT- gauge coupling running consistent at least up to the Planck scale. We also show that when $SO(10) \to G_{2213}$ by $210 + 54$, gravitational corrections alone with negligible threshold effects may guarantee such perturbative gauge coupling. The lifetime of the proton is found to increase by nearly 6 orders over the current experimental limit for $p \to e^+\pi^0$. For the proton decay mediated by dim.5 operator a wide range of lifetimes is possible extending from the current experimental limit up to values 2-3 orders longer.

Partly supersymmetric grand unification

It is shown how grand unification can occur in models which are partly supersymmetric. The particle states which are composite do not contribute to the running of gauge couplings above the compositeness scale, while the elementary states contribute the usual large logarithmns. This introduces a new differential running contribution to the gauge couplings from partly composite SU(5) matter multiplets. In particular, for partly supersymmetric models, the incomplete SU(5) elementary matter multiplets restore gauge coupling unification even though the usual elementary gaugino and Higgsino contributions need not be present.

Gauged Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with extra dimensions: Phase structure and renormalizability

We investigate phase structure of the D (> 4)-dimensional gauged Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model with $\delta(=D-4)$ extra dimensions compactified on TeV scale, based on the improved ladder Schwinger-Dyson (SD) equation in the bulk. We assume that the bulk running gauge coupling in the SD equation for the SU(N_c) gauge theory with N_f massless flavors is given by the truncated Kaluza-Klein effective theory and hence has a nontrivial ultraviolet fixed point (UVFP). We find the critical line in the parameter space of two couplings, the gauge coupling and the four-fermion coupling, which is similar to that of the gauged NJL model with fixed (walking) gauge coupling in four dimensions. It is shown that in the presence of such walking gauge interactions the four-fermion interactions become ``nontrivial'' even in higher dimensions, similarly to the four-dimensional gauged NJL model. Such a nontriviality holds only in the restricted region of the critical line (``nontrivial window'') with the gauge coupling larger than a non-vanishing value (``marginal triviality (MT)'' point), in contrast to the four-dimensional case where such a nontriviality holds for all regions of the critical line except for the pure NJL point. In the nontrivial window the renormalized effective potential yields a nontrivial interaction which is conformal invariant. The exisitence of the nontrivial window implies ``cutoff insensitivity'' of the physics prediction in spite of the ultraviolet dominance of the dynamics. In the formal limit D -> 4, the nontrivial window coincides with the known condition of the nontriviality of the four-dimensional gauged NJL model, $9/(2N_c) < N_f - N_c < 9/2 N_c$.

Higgsless grand unified theory breaking and trinification

Boundary conditions on an extra-dimensional interval can be chosen to break bulk gauge symmetries and to reduce the rank of the gauge group. We consider this mechanism in models with gauge trinification. We determine the boundary conditions necessary to break the trinified gauge group directly down to that of the standard model. Working in an effective theory for the gauge symmetry-breaking parameters on a boundary, we examine the limit in which the GUT-breaking sector is Higgsless and show how one may obtain the low-energy particle content of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We find that gauge unification is preserved in this scenario, and that the differential gauge coupling running is logarithmic above the scale of compactification. We compare the phenomenology of our model to that of four-dimensional trinified theories.

Effective field theory and unification in AdS backgrounds

This work is an extension of our previous work, hep-th/0204160, which showed how to systematically calculate the high energy evolution of gauge couplings in compact AdS_5 backgrounds. We first directly compute the one-loop effects of massive charged scalar fields on the low energy couplings of a gauge theory propagating in the AdS background. It is found that scalar bulk mass scales (which generically are of order the Planck scale) enter only logarithmically in the corrections to the tree-level gauge couplings. As we pointed out previously, we show that the large logarithms that appear in the AdS one-loop calculation can be obtained within the confines of an effective field theory, by running the Planck brane correlator from a high UV matching scale down to the TeV scale. This result exactly reproduces our previous calculation, which was based on AdS/CFT duality. We also calculate the effects of scalar fields satisfying non-trivial boundary conditions (relevant for orbifold breaking of bulk symmetries) on the running of gauge couplings.

Precursors from S(1)/Z2×Z2′ orbifold GUTs

The possibility of appearance of GUT precursors near the TeV scale (suggested by Dienes–Dudas–Gherghetta) is addressed within 5D GUTs compactified on an S(1)/Z2×Z2′ orbifold. For a low compactification scale (large radius), there is a significant non universal logarithmic contribution in the relative running of gauge couplings. This within 5D SU(5), with the minimal field content, gives wrong prediction for α3(MZ) unless one goes beyond the minimal setting. The realization of the light precursors' idea thus requires some specific extensions. As a scenario alternative to SU(5) we also consider an SU(6) orbifold GUT, whose minimal non-SUSY version gives natural unification. In all the presented unification scenarios with light precursors, various GUT scales are realized. This allows the model to be naturally embedded in either heterotic or Type I string theories.

Precursors from S(1)/Z2×Z2′ orbifold GUTs

The possibility of appearance of GUT precursors near the TeV scale (suggested by Dienes–Dudas–Gherghetta) is addressed within 5D GUTs compactified on an S(1)/Z2×Z2′ orbifold. For a low compactification scale (large radius), there is a significant non-universal logarithmic contribution in the relative running of gauge couplings. This within 5D SU(5), with the minimal field content, gives wrong prediction for α3(MZ) unless one goes beyond the minimal setting. The realization of the light precursors' idea thus requires some specific extensions. As a scenario alternative to SU(5) we also consider an SU(6) orbifold GUT, whose minimal non-SUSY version gives natural unification. In all the presented unification scenarios with light precursors, various GUT scales are realized. This allows the model to be naturally embedded in either heterotic or Type I string theories.

A stable hierarchy from Casimir forces and the holographic interpretation

We show that in the Randall–Sundrum model the Casimir energy of bulk gauge fields (or any of their supersymmetric relatives) has contributions that depend logarithmically on the radion. These contributions satisfactorily stabilize the radion, generating a large hierarchy of scales without fine-tuning. The logarithmic behaviour can be understood, in a 4D holographic description, as the running of gauge couplings with the infrared cut-off scale.

Possibility of optical unification in heterotic strings

Recently J. Giedt discussed a mechanism, entitled optical unification, whereby string scale unification is facilitated via exotic matter with intermediate scale mass. This mechanism guarantees that a virtual MSSM unification below the string scale is extrapolated from the running of gauge couplings upward from M_Z^o when an intermediate scale desert is assumed. In this letter we explore the possibility of optical unification within the context of weakly coupled heterotic strings. In particular, we investigate this for models of free fermionic construction containing the NAHE set of basis vectors. This class is of particular interest for optical unification, because it provides a standard hypercharge embedding within SO(10), giving the standard k_Y = 5/3 hypercharge level, which was shown necessary for optical unification. We present a NAHE model for which the set of exotic SU(3)_C triplet/anti-triplet pairs, SU(2)_L doublets, and non-Abelian singlets with hypercharge offers the possibility of optical unification. Whether this model can realize optical unification is conditional upon these exotics not receiving Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) scale masses when a flat direction of scalar vacuum expectation values is non-perturbatively chosen to cancel the FI D-term, xi, generated by the anomalous U(1)-breaking Green-Schwarz-Dine-Seiberg-Wittten mechanism. A study of perturbative flat directions and their phenomenological implications for this model is underway. This paper is a product of the NFS Research Experiences for Undergraduates and the NSF High School Summer Science Research programs at Baylor University.