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A Solution to the Hierarchy Problem with Non-Linear Quantum Mechanics

Speaker
Surjeet Rajendran
Date
Fri October 31st 2025, 3:00 - 5:00pm
Affiliation
Johns Hopkins University
Event Sponsor
Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics
Location
Varian 312

We argue that the hierarchy problem of the standard model of particle physics can be solved by adding a state-dependent term to the Higgs sector. We present an example of a scalar field with a Higgs-like potential with an additional term proportional to the expectation value of the squared Higgs field operator. We show that the mass can be parametrically lighter than the theory's energy-momentum cutoff without fine tuning. We find the Higgs mass can be technically natural, even with a Planck-scale cutoff. The simplest version of the theory may not be distinguishable from the standard model at colliders, but other versions might. In addition, some aspects of cosmological evolution can be different in this model, in some cases radically. At the end of the talk, I will briefly discuss how these ideas can also be used to de-gravitate the vacuum energy and thus solve the cosmological constant problem.