Higgs family symmetry and supersymmetry

Abstract

In this thesis we investigate building models of family symmetry that give the Higgs fields family structure. We construct several models, starting with 2 generation models then moving onto 3 generation models. These models are described sequentially in chapters 2 through 6. All of these models are supersymmetric and they did not previously exists in the literature. In these models, quark (and lepton) masses and mixings are determined the vacuum expectation values of the family sector. These vacuum expectation values (VEV) can have a hierarchal structure because they correspond to flat directions of a superpotential. At low energies these models contain just one light pair of Higgs fields. Experimentally, the most interesting feature of these models are couplings between the low energy Higgs and moduli of the family sector. These couplings should be observable at the Large Hadron Collider.