Progress in Gauge-Higgs Unification on the Lattice

Abstract: We study a five-dimensional pure SU(2) gauge theory formulated on the orbifold and discretized on the lattice by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The gauge symmetry is explicitly broken to U(1) at the orbifold boundaries. The action is the Wilson plaquette action with a modified weight for the boundary U(1) plaquettes. We study the phase transition and present results for the spectrum and the shape of the static potential on the boundary. The latter is sensitive to the presence of a massive Z-boson, in good agreement with the directly measured Z-boson mass. The results may support an alternative view of the lattice orbifold (stemming from its mean-field study) as a 5d bosonic superconductor.