Speaker
Description
We present an analysis of newly expanded and refined data from lattice studies of the SU(3) gauge theory with $N_f=8$ light Dirac fermions, a theory which lies close to the boundary of the conformal window. We first assume that this theory is just outside the conformal window and identify a light unflavored scalar meson in this case as an approximate dilaton. We show fits of the lattice data to a dilaton effective field theory and demonstrate that it yields a good fit even at lowest order. Our fit incorporates new data for a scalar decay constant $F_S$. For comparison, we then assume that the theory is inside the conformal window. In this case, the fermion mass provides a deformation, triggering confinement. We employ simple scaling laws to fit the lattice data, but find that it is of lesser quality.
| Topical area | Particle Physics Beyond the Standard Model |
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