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Conformal invariance and spontaneous symmetry breaking

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Abstract

We study the spontaneous symmetry breaking in a conformally invariant gravitational theory. We particularly emphasize on the nonminimal coupling of matter fields to gravity. By the nonminimal coupling we consider a local distinction between the conformal frames of metric of matter fieldsand the metric explicitly entering the vacuum sector. We suppose that these two frames are conformally related by a dilaton field. We show that the imposition of a condition on the variable mass term of a scalar field may lead to the spontaneous symmetry breaking. In this way the scalar field may imitate the Higgs field behavior. Attributing a constant configuration to the ground state of the Higgs field, a Higgs conformal frame is specified. We define the Higgs conformal frame as a cosmological frame which describes the large scale characteristics of the observed universe. In the cosmological frame the gravitational coupling acquires a correct value and one no longer deals with the vacuum energy problem. We then study a more general case by considering a variable configuration for the ground state of Higgs field. In this case we introduce a cosmological solution of themodel.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Shahid Beheshti University, Evin, Tehran, 19839, Iran

    S. Mirabotalebi & H. Salehi

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  1. S. Mirabotalebi
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  2. H. Salehi
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Correspondence to S. Mirabotalebi.

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Mirabotalebi, S., Salehi, H. Conformal invariance and spontaneous symmetry breaking. Gen Relativ Gravit 38, 269–277 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-005-0219-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-005-0219-4

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