We consider the theory of a light conformally coupled scalar field, that is, one that is coupled directly to the Ricci scalar of the gravitational sector. This theory can be written equivalently as one of a light scalar that is coupled to the Standard Model of particle physics with a particular combination of Higgs-portal couplings. When the conformal coupling function contains terms that are linear and quadratic in the conformally coupled scalar, we find that the effective mass of the light propagating mode and its coupling to matter fields, obtained after expanding around a minimum of the classical potential, depend on the energy density of the background environment. This is despite the absence of nonlinear terms in the original equation of motion for the light conformally coupled field. Instead, we find that the nonlinearities of the prototype Higgs potential are communicated to the light mode. In this way, we present a novel realization of screening mechanisms, in which light degrees of freedom coupled to the Standard Model are able to avoid experimental constraints through environmental and thin-shell effects.

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标量张量理论中希格斯诱导的筛选机制

我们考虑光共形耦合标量场的理论，即直接耦合到引力区的里奇标量场的理论。该理论可以等效地写为一个光标量，该光标量通过希格斯门耦合的特定组合耦合到粒子物理的标准模型。当共形耦合函数包含共形耦合标量中的线性和二次项时，我们发现围绕经典势的最小值展开后获得的光传播模式的有效质量及其与物质场的耦合取决于背景环境的能量密度。尽管光共形耦合场的原始运动方程中没有非线性项，但仍然如此。相反，我们发现原型希格斯势的非线性被传递到光模式。通过这种方式，我们提出了一种新颖的筛选机制实现，其中与标准模型耦合的轻自由度能够避免环境和薄壳效应造成的实验限制。