Higgs mechanism in five-dimensional gauge theories

TL;DR

This paper investigates how five-dimensional gauge theories on an orbifold exhibit spontaneous symmetry breaking, with extra-dimensional gauge components acting as Higgs fields, confirmed through lattice simulations and Coleman-Weinberg potential calculations.

Contribution

It demonstrates the spontaneous symmetry breaking in five-dimensional gauge theories and compares lattice simulation results with Coleman-Weinberg potential computations.

Findings

Extra-dimensional gauge components behave as Higgs fields.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking observed in lattice simulations.

Massive gauge bosons emerge from the symmetry breaking.

Abstract

Lattice simulations of five-dimensional gauge theories on an orbifold revealed that there is spontaneous symmetry breaking. Some of the extra-dimensional components of the gauge field play the role of a Higgs field and some of the four-dimensional components become massive gauge bosons. The effect is confirmed by computing the Coleman-Weinberg potential with a cutoff. We compare the results of this computation with the lattice data.