Ineffective Supersymmetry: Electroweak Symmetry Breaking from Extra Dimensions

Abstract

Recently, a mechanism for electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) was discussed, in which the scale of EWSB is set by the scale of an additional dimension R ~ Tev^-1. The mechanism involves supersymmetry, but broken in such a fashion that high (four-dimensional) momentum loops are cut off by the finite size of the radius. In a Kaluza-Klein decomposition, a hard cutoff seems to give a strong cutoff dependence, while summing the entire tower is not only cutoff insensitive, but actually finite. Such behavior is easily understood in a formulation that respects five-dimensional locality. Finally, we note that certain models of this type naturally give operators which can ``fake'' the presence of a light Higgs in precision electroweak observables.