A closed clockwork theory: ℤ2 parity and more

• Published in: The journal of high energy physics 2022-12, Vol.2022 (12), p.71-37, Article 71
• Main Authors: Choudhury, Debajyoti, Maharana, Suvam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Boundary conditions; Classical and Quantum Gravitation; Clockwork; Couplings; Dark matter; Dilatons; Effective Field Theories; Elementary Particles; Extra Dimensions; Geometry; Hierarchy Problem; High energy physics; Parity; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Field Theory; Quantum Physics; Regular Article - Theoretical Physics; Relativity Theory; String Theory; Symmetry; Topology
• ISSN: 1029-8479; 1029-8479
• DOI: 10.1007/JHEP12(2022)071

A bstract We develop a new class of clockwork theories with an augmented structure of the near-neighbour interactions along a one-dimensional closed chain. Such a topology leads to new and attractive features in addition to generating light states with hierarchical couplings via the usual clockwork mechanism. For one, there emerges a ℤ 2 symmetry under the exchange of fields resulting in a physical spectrum consisting of states, respectively even and odd under the exchange parity with a two-fold degeneracy at each level. The lightest odd particle, being absolutely stable, could be envisaged as a potential dark matter candidate. The theory can also be obtained as a deconstruction of a five-dimensional theory embedded in a geometry generated by a linear dilaton theory on a S 1 / ℤ 2 orbifold with three equidistant 3-branes. Analogous to the discrete picture, the ℤ 2 symmetry in the bulk theory necessitates the existence of a KK spectrum of even and odd states, with doubly degenerate modes at each KK level when subject to certain boundary conditions.