Toward the minimal realization of a light composite Higgs
Work in progress is reported on a particularly interesting gauge theory with a fermion doublet in the two-index symmetric (sextet) representation of the SU(3) color gauge group. Extending previous studies we outline our strategy as we investigate Goldstone dynamics and Electroweak scale setting from chiral symmetry breaking ($\chi$ SB), test the GMOR relation from the spectrum of the Dirac operator and the related chiral condensate, begin to develop and test mixed action based improved analysis of $\chi$ SB with new run plans at fixed topology to cross over from the p-regime to the epsilon-regime of $\chi$ SB, continue to pursue the light $0^{++}$ scalar and its relation to the dilaton, and probe the scale-dependent running coupling from the perturbative UV scale to the scale of chiral symmetry breaking. Our observations suggest that the model is very close to the conformal window and a light composite scalar, perhaps the Higgs impostor with or without dilaton-like interpretation, appears to emerge with $0^{++}$ quantum numbers. The lightest baryon of the model on the 3 TeV scale has intriguing implications.

title: Pion-pion scattering phase shifts with the stochastic LapH method
abstract: Progress in calculating scattering phase shifts on $N_f=2+1$ anisotropic clover Wilson lattices is described. The stochastic LapH method facilitates computations in large volumes and for light pion masses. Results for pion masses down to 240 MeV, keeping $m_\pi L > 4$, are presented.

title: Baryon spectrum in the composite sextet model
abstract: The strongly coupled near-conformal gauge theory with two fermion flavors in the two-index symmetric (sextet) representation of SU(3) is potentially a minimal realization of the composite Higgs mechanism. We discuss the staggered fermion construction of baryonic states, present our first numerical results and comment on implications for dark matter.

title: The ﬁnite volume spectrum of excited states from lattice QCD simulations
abstract: We present results for the spectrum of excited mesons obtained from temporal correlations of spatially-extended single-hadron and multi-hadron operators computed in lattice QCD. The stochastic LapH algorithm is implemented on anisotropic, dynamical lattices for isovectors for pions of mass 390 MeV. A large correlation matrix with single-particle and two-particle probe operators is diagonalized to identify resonances. The masses of excited states in the I = 1,S = 0,T 1u channel as well as the mixing of single and multi-particle probe operators are presented.

title: Twelve fundamental and two sextet fermion flavors
abstract: We report extended simulation results and their new analysis in two important gauge theories with twelve fermion flavors in the fundamental SU(3) color representation and two fermions in the sextet representation. We probe the $N_f=12$ model with respect to the conformal window using mass deformed finite size scaling (FSS) theory driven by the fermion mass anomalous dimension. Our results at fixed gauge coupling show problems with the conformal scenario of the $N_f=12$ model. In the sextet model with two flavors, under the conformal hypothesis, we determine large values for the anomalous fermion mass dimension with $\gamma\geq 1$. Since our sextet analysis favors the chiral symmetry breaking hypothesis without conformality, the large exponent $\gamma$ could play an important role in understanding the composite Higgs mechanism. The new results discussed here include our extended data sets and exceed what was presented at the conference.

title: Can the nearly conformal sextet gauge model hide the Higgs impostor
abstract: New results are reported from large scale lattice simulations of a frequently discussed strongly interacting gauge theory with a fermion flavor doublet in the two-index symmetric (sextet) representation of the SU(3) color gauge group. We find that the chiral condensate and the mass spectrum of the sextet model are consistent with chiral symmetry breaking in the limit of vanishing fermion mass. In contrast, sextet fermion mass deformations of spectral properties are not consistent with leading conformal scaling behavior near the critical surface of a conformal theory. A recent paper could not resolve the conformal fixed point of the gauge coupling from the slowly walking scenario of a very small nearly vanishing β -function (DeGrand et al.  ). It is argued that overall consistency with our new results is resolved if the sextet model is close to the conformal window, staying outside with a very small non-vanishing β -function. The model would exhibit then the simplest composite Higgs mechanism leaving open the possibility of a light scalar state with quantum numbers of the Higgs impostor. It would emerge as the pseudo-Goldstone dilaton state from spontaneous symmetry breaking of scale invariance. We will argue that even without association with the dilaton, the scalar Higgs-like state can be light very close to the conformal window. A new Higgs project of sextet lattice simulations is outlined to resolve these important questions.

title: Bose-Einstein Interference in the Passage of a Jet in a Dense Medium †
abstract: When an energetic fermion collides with many fermion scatterers at very high energies, the Bose-Einstein symmetry with respect to the interchange of the virtual bosons leads to a destructive interference of the Feynman amplitude components in most regions of the momentum transfer phase space but a constructive interference in some other regions of the momentum transfer phase space. As a consequence, the recoiling scatterers have a tendency to come out collectively along the incident jet direction, each carrying a substantial fraction of the incident jet longitudinal momentum. This collective recoil of the scatterers may be the origin of the longitudinal momentum kick in the momentum kick model proposed to explain the "ridge" correlations in high-energy Pb-Pb collisions at RHIC and p-p collisions at LHC.

title: Lectures on the Near-Side Ridge, Landau Hydrodynamics, and Heavy Quarkonia in High Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions
abstract: We give an introduction to three diﬀerent topics that are of current interest in heavy-ion collisions. Particles associated with the near-side jet are found to exhibit a Δφ-Δη correlation in the form of a ridge in the Δη direction but a peak at Δφ ~ 0. The experimental data support the description that the ridge particles are medium partons kicked by the jet. The measurement of the characteristics of the ridge provides a unique tool to probe the nature of the (jet parton)-(medium parton) collision and the momentum distribution of dense matter formed in the early stage of the heavy-ion collision. We ﬁnd that the magnitude of the longitudinal momentum kick along the jet direction acquired by a medium parton in collision with the jet is about 1 GeV, and the early parton momentum distribution is in the form of a rapidity plateau with a thermal-type transverse momentum distribution. In the second lecture, we re-examine the validity of Landau hydrodynamics which provides a reasonable description of the space-time dynamics of the hot matter produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. We ﬁnd that the rapidity distribution of produced particles should be more appropriately modiﬁed from Landau’s result. Past successes of the Gaussian distribution in explaining experimental rapidity data can be understood, not because it is an approximation of the original Landau distribution, but because it is in fact a close representation of the modiﬁed distribution. In the ﬁnal lecture, we give an introduction to the development of the potential model for quarkonia, using thermodynamical quantities obtained in lattice gauge calculations. We ﬁnd that the potential model is consistent with the lattice gauge spectral function analysis, if the color-singlet heavy quark-antiquark potential is a linear combination of the color-singlet free energy F 1 and internal energy U 1 , with coeﬃcients that depend on the equation of state. We ﬁnd that the eﬀects of dynamical quark modiﬁes only slightly the stability of J/ψ and the quark drip line limits possible quarkonium states with light quarks to temperatures close to, and slightly greater than, the critical phase transition temperature.

title: Explicit solution of the time evolution of the Wigner function
abstract: Previously, an explicit solution for the time evolution of the Wigner function was presented in terms of auxiliary phase space coordinates which obey simple equations that are analogous with, but not identical to, the classical equations of motion. They can be solved easily, and their solutions can be used to construct the time evolution of the Wigner function. In this paper, the usefulness of this explicit solution is demonstrated by solving a numerical example in which the Wigner function has strong spatial and temporal variations as well as regions with negative values. It is found that the explicit solution gives a correct description of the time evolution of the Wigner function. We examine next the pseudoparticle method which uses classical trajectories to evolve the Wigner function. We find that the lowest-order pseudoparticle approximation reproduces the general features of the time evolution, but there are deviations. We show how these deviations can be systematically reduced by including higher-order correction terms in powers of 2.

title: A Model for Neutrino Masses and Dark Matter with the Discrete Gauge Symmetry
abstract: A simple renormalizable U(1) gauge model is constructed to explain the smallness of the active neutrino masses and provide the stable cold dark matter candidate simultaneously. The local U(1) symmetry is assumed to be spontaneously broken by a scalar field around the TeV scale. The active neutrino masses are then generated at one-loop level. This model contains several cold dark matter candidates whose stability is guaranteed by a residue discrete gauge $Z_2$ symmetry a la the Krauss-Wilczek mechanism. Unlike the other dark matter models, no further global discrete or continuous symmetry is introduced. Moreover, all the new degrees of freedom beyond the Standard Model acquire their masses only after the spontaneous breaking of U(1) thus they could be probed at or below the TeV scale. The possible cosmological and phenomenological consequences are briefly discussed.

title: Novel Bose-Einstein Interference in the Passage of a Fast Particle in a Dense Medium
abstract: When an energetic particle collides coherently with many medium particles at high energies, the Bose-Einstein symmetry with respect to the interchange of the exchanged virtual bosons leads to a destructive interference of the Feynman amplitudes in most regions of the phase space but a constructive interference in some other regions of the phase space. As a consequence, the recoiling medium particles have a tendency to come out collectively along the direction of the incident fast particle, each carrying a substantial fraction of the incident longitudinal momentum. Such an interference appearing as collective recoils of scatterers along the incident particle direction may have been observed in angular correlations of hadrons associated with a high-pT trigger in high-energy AuAu collisions at RHIC