Symmetry breaking via internal geometry

Abstract

Gauge theories commonly employ complex vector-valued fields to reduce symmetry groups through the Higgs mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking. The geometry of the internal spaceVis tacitly assumed to be the metric geometry of some static, nondynamical hermitian metrick. In this paper, we considerG-principal bundle gauge theories, whereGis a subgroup ofU(V,k)(the unitary transformations on the internal vector spaceVwith hermitian metrick) and we consider allowing the hermitian metric on the internal spaceVto become an additional dynamical element of the theory. We find a mechanism for interpreting the Higgs scalar field as a feature of the geometry of the internal space while retaining the successful aspects of the Higgs mechanism and spontaneous symmetry breaking