This thesis is concerned with strongly coupled extensions to the Standard Model. The majority of the thesis is dedicated to the study of Composite Higgs models, which are a proposed solution to the hierarchy problem of the electroweak scale. In these models the Higgs is a composite pseudo-Nambu Goldstone boson which forms a part of a new strongly interacting sector. There are many different variations on the basic Composite Higgs theme { the current status of some of these variations is assessed in light of results from the Large Hadron Collider. A new kind of Composite Higgs model is presented and studied, which features an alternative mechanism for the breaking of electroweak symmetry. A mechanism for deforming one model into another is also discussed, which might find application to the UV completion of Composite Higgs models. The formalism used in the Composite Higgs literature is also applied to the study of inflation, where the inflaton is assumed to be a pseudo-Nambu Goldstone boson arising from strongly coupled dynamics. A study of the inflaton potential is performed and its cosmological implications discussed. A different extension to the Standard Model with interesting phenomenological consequences is also studied. Quirks are strongly interacting particles whose masses are significantly higher than their confining scale. If produced in colliders, they leave unusual tracks which current searches are mostly blind to. A new search strategy for these hypothetical particles is proposed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:751896 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Setford, Jack |
| Publisher | University of Sussex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/77429/ |
Page generated in 0.0023 seconds