A spectroscopical analysis of the phase diagram of Yang-Mills-Higgs theory

Abstract

Yang-Mills-Higgs theory, being the standard-model Higgs sector for a suitable choice of gauge and custodial group, offers a rich set of physics. In particular, in some region of its parameter space it has QCD-like behavior, while in some other region it is Higgs-like. Therefore, it is possible to study a plethora of phenomena within a single theory. Here, the physics of the standard-model version is studied using lattice gauge theory. To this end, the low-lying spectrum in several different channels is obtained for more than 140 different sets of bare parameters throughout the phase diagram. The theory shows quite different behaviors in the different regions, from almost Yang-Mills-like to the one of an essentially free gas of massive photons. Especially, not always is the behavior as naively expected.