Is the Higgs Boson Associated with Coleman-Weinberg Dynamical Symmetry Breaking?
The Higgs mechanism may be a quantum phenomenon, i.e., a Coleman-Weinberg potential generated by the explicit breaking of scale symmetry in Feynman loops. We review the relationship of scale symmetry, trace anomalies, and emphasize the role of the renormalization group in determining Coleman- Weinberg potentials. We propose a simple phenomenological model with "maximal visibility" at the LHC containing a "dormant" Higgs doublet (no VEV, coupled to standard model gauge interactions $$SU(2)\times U(1)$$) with a mass of $$\sim 380$$ GeV. We discuss the LHC phenomenology and UV challenges of such a model. We also give a schematic model in which new heavy fermions, with masses $$\sim 230$$ GeV, can drive a Coleman-Weinberg potential at two-loops. The role of the "improved stress tensor" is emphasized, and we propose a non-gravitational term, analogous to the $$\theta$$-term in QCD, which generates it from a scalar action.