Asymmetric Dark Matter Models and the LHC Diphoton Excess

The existence of dark matter (DM) and the origin of the baryon asymmetry are persistent indications that the SM is incomplete. More recently, the ATLAS and CMS experiments have observed an excess of diphoton events with invariant mass of about 750 GeV. One interpretation of this excess is decays of a new spin-0 particle with a sizable diphoton partial width, e.g. induced by new heavy weakly charged particles. These are also key ingredients in models cogenerating asymmetric DM and baryons via sphaleron interactions and an initial particle asymmetry. We explore what consequences the new scalar may have for models of asymmetric DM that attempt to account for the similarity of the dark and visible matter abundances.Comment: 33 pages, 5 figure

125 GeV Higgs from a not so light Technicolor Scalar

Assuming that the observed Higgs-like resonance at the Large Hadron Collider is a technicolor isosinglet scalar (the technicolor Higgs), we argue that the standard model top-induced radiative corrections reduce its dynamical mass towards the desired experimental value. We then discuss conditions for the spectrum of technicolor theories to feature a technicolor Higgs with the phenomenologically required dynamical mass. We use scaling laws coming from modifying the technicolor matter representation, number of technicolors, techniflavors as well as the number of doublets gauged under the electroweak theory. Finally we briefly summarize the potential effects of walking dynamics on the technicolor Higgs.Comment: ReVTex, 15 pages, 3 figures. Version to match the published on

Corrigan-Ramond Extension of QCD at Nonzero Baryon Density

We investigate the Corrigan-Ramond extension of one massless flavor Quantum Chromo Dynamics at nonzero quark chemical potential. Since the extension requires the fermions to transform in the two index antisymmetric representation of the gauge group, one finds that the number of possible channels is richer than in the 't Hooft limit. We first discuss the diquark channels and show that for a number of colors larger than three a new diquark channel appears. We then study the infinite number of color limit and show that the Fermi surface is unstable to the formation of the Deryagin-Grigoriev-Rubakov chiral waves. We discover, differently from the 't Hooft limit, the possibility of a colored chiral wave breaking the color symmetry as well as translation invariance.Comment: RevTeX, 14 pages, 2 figure

Reforming the EU Sugar Policy

This article presents and analyses the impacts of the EU sugar policy. Particular attention is given to the modelling of the quite complex policy and the calibration of the global general equilibrium model at the member state level. Two scenarios are analysed, namely a reduction in the intervention price of sugar and the sugar quota. It is found that the economic impacts of the two scenarios are quite different in terms of the effects on European production and trade in sugar as well in terms of efficiency. The impacts for developing countries also differ considerably across the two scenarios.EU sugar policy, general equilibrium modelling, reform scenarios, Agricultural and Food Policy, C68, D58, Q17, Q18,

A partially composite Goldstone Higgs

We consider a model of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking with a partially composite Goldstone Higgs. The model is based on a strongly-interacting fermionic sector coupled to a fundamental scalar sector via Yukawa interactions. The SU(4) x SU(4) global symmetry of these two sectors is broken to a single SU(4) via Yukawa interactions. Electroweak symmetry breaking is dynamically induced by condensation due to the strong interactions in the new fermionic sector which further breaks the global symmetry SU(4) to Sp(4). The Higgs boson arises as a partially composite state which is an exact Goldstone boson in the limit where SM interactions are turned off. Terms breaking the SU(4) global symmetry explicitly generate a mass for the Goldstone Higgs. The model realizes in different limits both (partially) composite Higgs and (bosonic) Technicolor models, thereby providing a convenient unified framework for phenomenological studies of composite dynamics. It is also a dynamical extension of the recent elementary Goldstone-Higgs model.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Testing a dynamical origin of Standard Model fermion masses

We discuss a test of the Standard Model fermion mass origin in models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking. The couplings of composite pseudoscalar resonances to top quarks allow to distinguish high-scale Extended-Technicolor-type fermion mass generation from fermion partial compositeness and low-scale mass generation via an induced vacuum expectation value of a doublet coupled to the composite sector. These different possible origins of fermion masses are thus accessible via weak-scale physics searched for at the LHC.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Discussion of fermion partial compositeness added, typos improve

Diboson Signals via Fermi Scale Spin-One States

ATLAS and CMS observe deviations from the expected background in diboson invariant mass searches of new resonances around 2 TeV. We provide a general analysis of the results in terms of spin-one resonances and find that Fermi scale composite dynamics can be the culprit. The analysis and methodology can be employed for future searches at run two of the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: Version to match the published one in PRD. Note that we use an effective theory and therefore our analysis is largely model-independent and applies not only to technicolor but also to composite (goldstone) Higgs as well as to elementary extensions that appeared later in the literature. LaTeX, 2 columns, 4 pages, 5 figure