Electroweak Symmetry Breaking 2019

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is devoted to an exploration of the experimental and theoretical status of electroweak symmetry, breaking as it is described by the Standard Model of Particle Physics (SM) in terms of the minimal Higgs sector and in models beyond this. In particular, we invite contributions from experimental groups on the measurement of the branching ratios of the various exclusive Higgs-particle decay channels and their comparison with SM-predictions, including the results of the polarisation measurements. On the theoretical side, submissions on the confrontation of the triple-gauge-boson-vertices dominance hypothesis in analysing deviations from the SM, which is a self-consistent assumption for LEP, results in electroweak precision data, with an analysis of the LHC data based on a more general set of higher dimensional operators in the framework of the Standard-Model Effective Field Theory, are called for. Expositions of compositeness bounds, derived from LHC and LEP data, on the Higgs doublet(s) in extended gauge-theory models, and of models designed for Higgs-mass stabilisation/addressation of the gauge-hierarchy problem for the SM gauge group are sought for. We also encourage contributions on the Higgs phenomenology for future colliders. Finally, we envisage discussions of electroweak symmetry breaking based on non-perturbative SU(2) Quantum Yang–Mills theory, where the hierarchy between the electron and heavy gauge-boson masses arises from the moduli of the gauge-symmetry breaking fields that are comparable to the electron mass, but subject to large values of the gauge couplings, which express this very mass hierarchy. In such a model, a process mediated by the weak gauge bosons is associated to the passing of the SU(2) phase boundaries around the (fuzzy) edge of a spatial region of subatomic extent. This possibility could provide explanations and functional generalisations (in case of extended thermalisation) of some of the parameters (weak mixing angle and neutrino masses) of the leptonic and electroweak gauge-field sector of the SM, as well as an addressation of the smallness of cosmological vacuum energy on the scales of particle physics, in terms of the confining phases of SU(2) (and SU(3)) gauge theories.

Dr. Ralf Hofmann
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Symmetry is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Higgs production in pp collisions
• Higgs production in e+e- collisions
• Higgs decays channels
• Standard-Model Effective Field Theory
• Higgs mass stabilisation/ hierarchy problem
• non-perturbative SU(2) Quantum Yang-Mills theory
• dark energy