Aharonov-Bohm Effect and Gauge-Higgs Unification

Abstract

The Higgs particle is the only particle left to be found in the standard model of electroweak interactions, being expected to be discovered at LHC in the near future. Yet we do not clearly know what it is. In the Gauge-Higgs unification scenario the Higgs field is unified with gauge fields such as the W boson, Z boson and photon in spacetime with more than four dimensions. The Higgs field appears as an Aharonov-Bohm phase in the extra-dimensional space, whose dynamics induces spontaneous breaking of the electroweak symmetry. Its couplings to the W boson, Z boson, quarks and leptons deviate from those in the standard model, and can be tested at LHC.