The electroweak symmetry breaking Higgs boson in models with top-quark condensation

Abstract

The top quark may get its mass not from a fundamental scalar but a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio mechanism involving a strongly coupled gauge sector that triggers top-quark condensation. Forbidding a large hierarchy in the gap equation implies that top-quark condensation is a spectator to electroweak symmetry breaking, which must be accomplished mainly by another sector. The properties of the electroweak symmetry breaking scalars are identified. Production mechanisms and decay modes are studied. Unlike the standard model, the scalar degree of freedom most relevant to electroweak symmetry breaking can only be produced by its gauge interactions. An e-e-μ+ + μ-μ-e+ signal is proposed to help unambiguously detect the presence of such a gauge-coupled Higgs if it is light. Other useful modes of detection are also presented, and a summary is made of the search capabilities at LEPII, Tevatron, and LHC.