Wochenübersicht – nächste Woche

In this talk, we present a minimal viable scenario that unifies the gauge symmetries of the SM and their breaking sector. Our Gauge-Higgs Grand Unification setup employs 5D warped space with a SU(6) bulk gauge field that includes both a SU(5) grand unified theory (GUT) and a Higgs sector as a scalar component of the 5D vector field, solving the hierarchy problem. By appropriately breaking the gauge symmetry on the boundaries of the extra dimension the issue of light exotic new states, appearing generically in such models, is eliminated and the SM fermion spectrum is naturally reproduced. The Higgs potential is computed at one-loop, finding straightforward solutions with a realistic mh = 125 GeV. The problem of proton decay is addressed by showing that baryon number is a hidden symmetry of the model. The presence of a scalar leptoquark and a scalar singlet is highlighted, which might play a role in solving further problems of the SM, allowing for example for electroweak baryogenesis. Finally, the X and Y gauge bosons from SU(5) GUTs are found at collider accessible masses, opening a window to the unification structure at low energies.

The remarkable development of accelerator-driven light sources such as synchrotrons and X-ray lasers with their highly brilliant X-rays has brought quantum and nonlinear phenomena at X-ray energies within reach. X-ray photonic structures like cavities and superlattices are employed as new laboratory to realize quantum optical concepts at x-ray energies. The prime candidates to be chosen as atomic emitters in this field are Mössbauer isotopes. Their extremely small resonance bandwidth facilitates to probe fundamental phenomena of the light-matter interaction like the observation of single-photon superradiance and the collective Lamb shift as well as electromagnetically induced transparency with nuclei. Employing higher-order coherences of x-ray fields in the spirit of Glauber could even lead to novel concepts for quantum imaging at x-ray energies.