Theory HEP Seminar

Putting Generalized Symmetries to Work for Particle Physics

Seth Koren

University of Chicago

Over the past decade, field theorists have developed a novel framework for thinking about global symmetries which has enormously generalized our understanding thereof. Quite recently, my collaborators and I have established positively that past being a useful formal tool, such generalized symmetries are indeed present in models that we care about as particle physicists — and furthermore understanding them can lead to new insights into these models. As a first example, the Standard Model itself has a ‘higher-group’ symmetry intertwining flavor and hypercharge, and I will discuss how this symmetry controls the structure of unification. Going Beyond, I will show that the identification of a ‘non-invertible’ symmetry of Z' models of L_µ - L_τ reveals the existence of simple UV completions thereof where the scale of neutrino masses is exponentially suppressed from that of charged leptons.