NSFLHC · New Strong Forces at the Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will hopefully uncover some of the fundamental mysteries of particle physics: What is the origin of the observed asymmetry between electromagnetic and weak interactions ? What is the origin of electron and quark masses ? Does the Higgs boson exist ? What is the dark matter of the universe made of ? What is the origin of the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry ? In order to answer (some of) these questions from a theoretical standpoint several models have been proposed. Among these the most thoroughly analyzed are the ""standard model"" and ""supersymmetry"". A very intriguing possibility is that the symmetry between electromagnetic and weak interactions is broken dynamically by a new kind of strong force, known as ""technicolor"" (TC). Although very appealing, TC has received less attention than competing theories, because its strong nature makes it more difficult to analyze. However in the past few years a lot of progress has been made to understand strong dynamics, and we are in a position to make specific predictions about the signatures of TC at colliders. Based on the recent findings, we aim to analyze the most relevant aspects of TC phenomenology at the LHC, and propose new mechanisms for fermion mass generation in the context of TC theories.""