2001/07/31 by Jonathan Bagger, Ferruccio Feruglio, Fabio Zwirner · 80 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Brane #Chiral symmetry breaking #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Fermion #Fixed point #Gauge theory #Geometry #Homogeneous space #Mass generation #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Orbifold #Particle physics #Physics #Spontaneous symmetry breaking #Symmetry (geometry) #Symmetry breaking #Theoretical physics #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.88.101601
published in Physical Review Letters 88(10), 101601 (American Physical Society) · 4 pages, 1 figure. Published version
arxiv created 2002/02/01 · openalex publication_date 2002/02/20 · arxiv updated 2014/11/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We reconsider the phenomenon of mass generation via coordinate-dependent compactifications of higher-dimensional theories on orbifolds. For definiteness, we study a generic five-dimensional theory compactified on S(1)/Z(2). We show that the presence of fixed points, where the fields or their derivatives may be discontinuous, permits new realizations of the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism where, for example, the mass terms are localized at the orbifold fixed points. Our technique can be used to describe the explicit breaking of global flavor symmetries and supersymmetries by brane-localized mass terms. It can also be applied to the spontaneous breaking of local symmetries, such as gauge symmetries or supergravities.