A phase of confined electroweak force in the early Universe

15 May 2019, 09:25
25m

Speaker

Joshua Berger (University of Pittsburgh)

Description

We consider a modified cosmological history in which the new physics causes the electroweak gauge sector, $SU(2)_L$, to confine before it is Higgsed and before the strong force confines. Eventually, the universe leaves this confining $SU(2)_L$ phase and returns to the phases we know to be present from BBN. In the confining $SU(2)_L$ phase, we argue that the quark and lepton electroweak-doublets form scalar condensates that acquire nonzero expectation values, thereby breaking global symmetries including baryon number and lepton number. The "weak" gauged forces $SU(3)_C \times U(1)_Y$ are broken to an $SU(2)\times U(1)$ subgroup. We discuss the symmetry breaking pattern, spectrum of mesons and composite fermions, and possible implications for early Universe cosmology.

Preferred Session Cosmology

Primary authors

Joshua Berger (University of Pittsburgh) Andrew Long (University of Michigan - LCTP) Jessica Turner (Durham University)

Presentation materials