On the phase diagram and the singlet scalar channel in Yang-Mills-Higgs theory

TL;DR

This study uses lattice theory to analyze the scalar singlet channel in Yang-Mills-Higgs theory, revealing both deviations from and confirmations of the expected spectrum across different phase diagram regions.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive lattice investigation of the scalar singlet channel in Yang-Mills-Higgs theory across over a hundred phase diagram points.

Findings

Results show substantial deviations from expectations in some regions.

In other regions, the spectrum aligns with a weakly interacting theory.

The theory exhibits different behaviors without phase transitions, depending on the phase diagram domain.

Abstract

Yang-Mills-Higgs theory is quite a remarkable theory in that it shows very different behaviors without phase transitions. It is dominated by the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism in some domain of the phase diagram, while it is essentially QCD-like in another. It is expected that albeit there is no qualitative difference, there are substantially quantitative differences throughout the spectrum. This is investigated using lattice theory for the case of the scalar singlet channel for more than a hundred different points in the phase diagram. It is found that the results deviate partly substantially from the expectations in some cases, but in others justify the picture of a weakly interacting theory - even in cases of rather strong interactions at the ultraviolet cutoff.