EPT Seminar

Date
Tue, Feb 16, 2016 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location
2136 PSC

Description

Speaker Name: Anson Hook

Speaker Institution: Stanford

Title: Non-Traditional Solutions to Naturalness

Abstract: Explaining the small value of the Higgs mass has motivated many different models such as supersymmetry and extra dimensions. Motivated by previous instances where naturalness has failed, we present two new approaches towards explaining the small value of the Higgs mass. In the first solution, the Higgs mass is a constantly changing quantity. The presence of a hot universe (reheating) is tied to a small Higgs mass explaining why the Higgs mass is at its current small but changing value. The second solution, NNaturalness, postulates that there are many copies of the Standard model with differing Higgs masses. Pure chance results in the presence of a small Higgs mass in one of the many copies. Reheating naturally occurs in such a way that only the observed copy of the Standard model is reheated. These new non-traditional solutions to the Higgs mass problem are relatively unconstrained and have new observational consequences.