Neutral Naturalness from the Orbifold Higgs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a class of natural theories where the Higgs is a pseudo-Goldstone boson arising from orbifolded gauge theories, featuring SM-neutral states that address the hierarchy problem.

Contribution

It proposes a novel framework called orbifold Higgs, exemplified by the twin Higgs, for neutral naturalness with SM-neutral states and a new symmetry protection mechanism.

Findings

Twin Higgs as the simplest orbifold Higgs example

SM-neutral states interact mainly through the Higgs portal

Systematic study of neutral naturalness scenarios

Abstract

We present a general class of natural theories in which the Higgs is a pseudo-goldstone boson in an orbifolded gauge theory. The symmetry protecting the Higgs at low energies is an accidental global symmetry of the quadratic action, rather than a full continuous symmetry. The lightest degrees of freedom protecting the weak scale carry no Standard Model (SM) quantum numbers and interact with visible matter principally through the Higgs portal. We find that the twin Higgs is the simplest example of an orbifold Higgs. This opens the door to the systematic study of "neutral naturalness": natural theories with SM-neutral states that are as yet untested by the LHC.