Finite Higgs mass without Supersymmetry
I. Antoniadis, K. Benakli, M. Quiros
TL;DR
The paper shows that when the Higgs field is identified with internal components of a higher-dimensional gauge field in the presence of large extra dimensions, the one-loop Higgs potential can be finite and calculable without supersymmetry, provided the full Kaluza-Klein tower is included and higher-dimensional gauge invariance enforces $M_I(\phi)=0$. It derives a cut-off–independent effective potential for Wilson-line Higgs on toroidal compactifications and analyzes the two-dimensional case ($d=2$), demonstrating the mechanism's robustness. It then constructs a concrete six-dimensional model with gauge group $U(3)\times U(3)$, embeddable in Type I string theory, which upon $T^2/\mathbb{Z}_2$ compactification yields the Standard Model with two Higgs doublets. The work highlights how UV-insensitive electroweak symmetry breaking can arise in non-supersymmetric, string-motivated frameworks and outlines pathways to realistic spectra via D-brane constructions and orbifold projections.
Abstract
We identify a class of chiral models where the one-loop effective potential for Higgs scalar fields is finite without any requirement of supersymmetry. It corresponds to the case where the Higgs fields are identified with the components of a gauge field along compactified extra dimensions. We present a six dimensional model with gauge group U(3)xU(3) and quarks and leptons accomodated in fundamental and bi-fundamental representations. The model can be embedded in a D-brane configuration of type I string theory and, upon compactification on a T^2/Z_2 orbifold, it gives rise to the standard model with two Higgs doublets.