Adjoint triplet Higgs spectrum Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
For a gauged real scalar triplet with vacuum and generators , the covariant kinetic term yields gauge-boson squared masses . Two Goldstone bosons become longitudinal vector modes through the Higgs mechanism. One radial scalar, two massive three-polarization vector fields and one massless two-polarization field remain. The physical count is unchanged. In unitary gauge, the scalar kinetic term includes .
Global triplet scalar symmetry breaking Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
For a real scalar triplet with , and , the vacuum sphere has radius . At , the Hessian is . Global breaking therefore gives two physical massless Goldstone bosons and one radial scalar with squared mass . The angular modes cannot be gauged away in a theory with only global rotations.
This cannot be the sole symmetry-breaking sector of the Standard Model. Its gauge-boson mass matrix has two zero eigenvalues, so besides the electromagnetic photon it predicts an extra massless neutral gauge boson. Every linear combination of and , including the combination normally called , is massless. The observed massive Z boson is a concrete contradiction. Choosing differently cannot change these two zero eigenvalues.
A real scalar triplet can occur as an additional sector, but a further vacuum expectation value, for example that of a Higgs doublet, is then necessary to obtain the observed neutral gauge boson mass pattern. This does not rescue the triplet-only model posed here.
Put . The potential has its minimum at
Choose the vacuum expectation value . Since the weak hypercharge is zero, on this real scalar triplet, and . Neither nor annihilates . The stabilizer subgroup is consequently
In particular, spontaneous symmetry breaking has not reduced the two neutral gauge generators to a single one: annihilates every component and remains unbroken independently of .
The scalar mass matrix is
With canonical kinetic normalization , the radial Higgs boson therefore has
The two tangential zero eigenvalues are Goldstone modes, absorbed by the two massive gauge bosons through the Higgs mechanism.
For a real scalar triplet, with metric signature , differentiating the Lagrangian density gives and . Hence
For a constant internal rotation parameter, the variation is
Each bracketed tensor is symmetric in , so its contraction with the antisymmetric symbol vanishes. This rotates the three field components, not the space coordinates; both the kinetic term and common mass term are invariant.
For a first-principles Noether current derivation, temporarily let depend on spacetime. The terms proportional to still cancel, leaving
On a solution of the field equations, the action variation for a compactly supported vanishes after integration by parts. Thus . To match the charges printed in the question, use the equivalent overall sign convention for the SO(3) Noether current of a real scalar triplet
Arbitrariness of gives three continuity equations. Their charges are exactly
An overall reversal of all currents is immaterial; the minus sign above keeps the generator convention distinct from the supplied charge convention.
Direct verification is also short:
The mass term and the products of equal-type derivatives cancel by antisymmetry; integration by parts produces the boundary term. The charges are conserved when these integrals exist and the net boundary flux vanishes: sufficiently decaying fields on all space, periodic boundary conditions, or suitable symmetry-preserving no-flux boundaries suffice. Arbitrary open boundaries do not. A common constant is necessary for this internal symmetry; its positivity is a stability issue, not needed for the algebraic conservation proof.
Real scalar triplet Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
A real scalar triplet groups three real scalar components into a vector under SO(3). Equivalently it is the three-dimensional Adjoint representation of SU(2), whose center acts trivially. Its rotationally invariant quadratic and quartic potentials depend on . A nonzero vacuum direction leaves rotations around that direction unbroken.
A real scalar triplet of weak hypercharge zero with vacuum expectation value breaks but preserves both and the independent weak hypercharge generator. With canonical kinetic terms its gauge-boson mass matrix in is . The two massless neutral gauge bosons prevent this field alone from reproducing Standard Model electroweak symmetry breaking.