Roshan Foadi

Minimal walking technicolor : Setup for collider physics

Different theoretical and phenomenological aspects of the minimal and nonminimal walking technicolor theories have recently been studied. The goal here is to make the models ready for collider phenomenology. We do this by constructing the low energy effective theory containing scalars, pseudoscalars, vector mesons, and other fields predicted by the minimal walking theory. We construct their self-interactions and interactions with standard model fields. Using the Weinberg sum rules, opportunely modified to take into account the walking behavior of the underlying gauge theory, we find interesting relations for the spin-one spectrum. We derive the electroweak parameters using the newly constructed effective theory and compare the results with the underlying gauge theory. Our analysis is sufficiently general such that the resulting model can be used to represent a generic walking technicolor theory not at odds with precision data.

Technicolor Walks at the LHC

We analyze the potential of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to observe signatures of phenomenologically viable walking technicolor models. We study and compare the Drell-Yan and vector boson fusion mechanisms for the production of composite heavy vectors. We find that the heavy vectors are most easily produced and detected via the Drell-Yan processes. The composite Higgs phenomenology is also studied. If technicolor walks at the LHC, its footprints will be visible and our analysis will help in uncovering them.

Higgsless electroweak symmetry breaking from theory space

We investigate unitarity of W + W − scattering in the context of theory space models of the form U(1) × [SU(2)] N × SU(2) N+1, which are broken down to U(1) EM by non-linear Σ fields, without the presence of a physical Higgs Boson. By allowing the couplings of the U(1) and the final SU(2) N+1 to vary, we can fit the W and Z masses, and we find that the coefficient of the term in the amplitude that grows as E 2/m W 2 at high energies is suppressed by a factor of (N+1)−2. In the N+1→∞ limit the model becomes a 5-dimensional SU(2) gauge theory defined on an interval, where boundary terms at the two ends of the interval break the SU(2) down to U(1) EM . These boundary terms also modify the Kaluza-Klein (KK) mass spectrum, so that the lightest KK states can be identified as the W and Z bosons. The T parameter, which measures custodial symmetry breaking, is naturally small in these models. Depending on how matter fields are included, the strongest experimental constraints come from precision electroweak limits on the S parameter.

125 GeV Higgs boson from a not so light technicolor scalar

Assuming that the observed Higgs-like resonance at the Large Hadron Collider is a technicolor isosinglet scalar (the technicolor Higgs), we argue that the standard model top-induced radiative corrections reduce its mass toward the desired experimental value. We discuss conditions for the spectrum of technicolor theories to feature a technicolor Higgs with the phenomenologically required dynamical mass. We consider different representations under the technicolor gauge group and employ scaling laws in terms of the dimension of the representation. We also summarize the potential effects of walking dynamics on the mass of the technicolor Higgs.

Technicolor dark matter

Dark matter candidates are natural in technicolor theories. We introduce a general framework allowing to predict signals of technicolor dark matter at colliders and set constraints from Earth-based experiments such as CDMS and XENON. We show that the associate production of the composite Higgs can lead to relevant signals at the Large Hadron Collider.

Effects of fermion localization in Higgsless theories and electroweak constraints

Abstract Extra-dimensional Higgsless models with electroweak symmetry breaking through boundary conditions generically have difficulties with electroweak precision constraints, when the fermions are localized to the “branes” in the fifth dimension. In this Letter we show that these constraints can be relaxed by allowing the light fermions to have a finite extent into the bulk of the fifth dimension. The T and U electroweak parameters can be naturally suppressed by a custodial symmetry, while the S parameter can be made to vanish through a cancellation, if the leakage into the bulk of the light gauge fields and the light left-handed fermion fields are of the same size. This cancellation is possible while allowing realistic values for the first two generations of fermion masses, although special treatment is probably required for the top quark. We present this idea here in the context of a specific continuum theory-space model; however, it can be applied to any five-dimensional Higgsless model, either with a flat or a warped background.

A critical assessment of the occurrence and extend of oxygen contamination during anaerobic incubations utilizing commercially available vials

For rate determinations of anaerobic metabolism it is essential to maintain strictly anoxic conditions throughout the experiment. However, even if oxygen contamination can be avoided while preparing the incubation containers, it is still possible that the incubation containers themselves contaminate the samples by oxygen diffusing from or through their plastic or rubber components. In this study, we investigated the sources and extent of oxygen contamination during anoxic incubations, and present solutions to minimize oxygen contamination. In particular, we investigated oxygen contamination in Labco® Exetainers, glass vials with a butyl rubber septum in the screw cap, which are frequently used in microbiological experiments. Our results show that significant oxygen contamination occurred at different stages during the incubation. Contamination occurred when Exetainers were either filled or incubated for more than 16h under oxic atmosphere, but also under an oxygen-free atmosphere due to diffusion of oxygen out of the butyl rubber septum. Therefore, to avoid oxygen contamination during incubations, we suggest (1) filling and incubating the incubation containers under anoxic atmosphere (glove bag) and (2) deoxygenating all elastomers in sample processing and incubation equipment. If initial oxygen contamination cannot be avoided, introduction of an anoxic headspace might help extract oxygen from the incubated sample and present a buffer against oxygen diffusing out of the septum. We modeled the amount of oxygen diffusing out of butyl rubber septa under different conditions, and results fitted well with the observed oxygen contamination. Thus, the model can be used to predict oxygen contamination under varying conditions and for differently sized septa.

Unitarity in Technicolor

We investigate the longitudinal WW scattering in models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking featuring a spin-one axial and vector state and a composite Higgs boson. We also investigate the effects of a composite spin-two state which has the same properties of a massive graviton. Any model of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking will feature, depending on the dynamics, some or all of these basic resonances as part of the low energy spectrum. We suggest how to take limits in the effective Lagrangian parameter space to reproduce the dynamics of different types of underlying gauge theories, from the traditional technicolor models to the newest ones featuring nearly conformal dynamics. We study the direct effects of a light composite Higgs boson and the indirect ones stemming from the presence of a light axial resonance on the longitudinal WW scattering.

Technicolor Higgs boson in the light of LHC data

We consider scenarios in which the 125 GeV resonance observed at the Large Hadron Collider is a Technicolor (TC) isosinglet scalar, the TC Higgs. By comparison with quantum chromodynamics, we argue that the couplings of the TC Higgs to the massive weak bosons are very close to the Standard Model (SM) values. The couplings to photons and gluons are model-dependent, but close to the SM values in several TC theories. The couplings of the TC Higgs to SM fermions are due to interactions beyond TC, such as Extended Technicolor: if such interactions successfully generate mass for the SM fermions, we argue that the couplings of the latter to the TC Higgs are also SM-like. We suggest a generic parameterization of the TC Higgs interactions with SM particles that accommodates a large class of TC models, and we perform a fit of these parameters to the Higgs LHC data. The fit reveals regions of parameter space where the form factors are of order unity and consistent with data at the 95% CL, in agreement with expectations in TC theories. This indicates that the discovered Higgs boson is consistent with the TC Higgs hypothesis for several TC theories. Preprint: CP 3 -Origins-22013-32 & DIAS-2013-32

Production of Massive Color-Octet Vector Bosons at Next-to-Leading Order

We report the first complete calculation of QCD corrections to the production of a massive color-octet vector boson. Our next-to-leading-order (NLO) calculation includes both virtual corrections as well as corrections arising from the emission of gluons and light quarks, and we demonstrate the reduction in factorization-scale dependence relative to the leading-order approximation used in previous hadron collider studies. We show that the QCD NLO corrections to coloron production are as large as 30%, and that the residual factorization scale-dependence is reduced to of order 2%. We also calculate the K-factor and the pT spectrum for coloron production, since these are valuable for comparison with experiment. Our results apply directly to the production of the massive color-octet vector bosons in axigluon, topcolor, and coloron models, and approximately to the production of KK gluons in extra-dimensional models or color-octet technivector mesons in technicolor models.