A flavor-universal extension of the strong interactions was recently proposed in response to the apparent excess of high-$E_T$ jets in the inclusive jet spectrum measured at the Tevatron. This paper studies the color octet of massive gauge bosons (`colorons') that is present in the low-energy spectrum of the model's Higgs phase. Constraints from searches for new particles decaying to dijets and from measurements of the weak-interaction $\rho$ parameter imply that the colorons must have masses greater than 870-1000 GeV. The implications of recent Tevatron data and the prospective input from future experiments are also discussed.

The Run I experiments at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider discovered the top quark and provided first measurements of many of its properties. Run II (and eventually the LHC and NLC experiments) promise to extend our knowledge of the top quark significantly. Understanding the top quark's large mass, and indeed the origin of all mass, appears to require physics beyond the Standard Model. Thus, the top quark may have unusual properties accessible to upcoming experiments.

Experiment shows that the top quark is far heavier than the other elementary fermions. This finding has stimulated research on theories of electroweak and flavor symmetry breaking that include physics beyond the standard model. Efforts to accommodate a heavy top quark within existing frameworks have revealed constraints on model-building. Other investigations have started from the premise that a large top quark mass could signal a qualitative difference between the top quark and other fermions, perhaps in the form of new interactions peculiar to the top quark. Such new dynamics may also help answer existing questions about electroweak and flavor physics. This talk explores the implications of the heavy top quark in the context of weakly-coupled (e.g. SUSY) and strongly-coupled (e.g. technicolor) theories of electroweak symmetry breaking.

This talk describes how modern theories of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking have evolved from the original minimal QCD-like technicolor model in response to three key challenges: R_b, flavor-changing neutral currents, and weak isospin violation.

Recent work by Burdman, Lane, and Rador has shown that B-meson mixing places stringent lower bounds on the masses of topgluons and Z' bosons in classic topcolor-assisted technicolor (TC2) models. This paper finds analogous limits on the Z' bosons of flavor-universal TC2 and non-commuting extended technicolor models, and compares the limits with those from precision electroweak measurements. A discussion of the flavor structure of these models (contrasted with that of classic TC2) shows that B-meson mixing is a less reliable probe of these models than of classic TC2.

The top quark is by far the heaviest known fermion [1]. In consequence, experiment is just beginning to explore its properties, and some of them may yet prove to be distinctly non-standard. The very size of the top quark's mass even hints at the possibility of a special role for top in electroweak symmetry breaking. This talk examines the top quark in the context of physics beyond the standard model, and discusses how Run II can help elucidate the true nature of top.

The origin of mass must lie in physics beyond the Standard Model. Dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking models like technicolor can generate masses for the W and Z bosons. Providing the large top quark mass and large top-bottom mass splitting while keeping rho parameter and flavor-changing neutral currents small requires new strong dynamics for the top and bottom quarks. In consequence, new particles are predicted at scales up to 10 TeV with signatures in jets or heavy flavors. Searches for these states are underway at Fermilab and LEP II.

Extensions of the standard model that include new W bosons or extended technicolor gauge bosons can predict sizeable changes in the rate of single top quark production, even when constrained to be consistent with precision electroweak data. We analyze the fractional change in the rate of single top quark production for several classes of models and determine which ones predict an effect visible in the Tevatron collider's Run 3.

Current LEP data on rare $Z$ decays constrain nonminimal technicolor models that contain light neutral pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons ($P^a$). We discuss the production and decay of such particles, and show how LEP data on $\gamma\gamma\gamma$, $\gamma + E\!\!\!/ $ and $\gamma+$hadrons constrain the size of the technicolor gauge group and the strength of the $Z\gamma P^a$ coupling. The limits are then applied to several specific technicolor scenarios.

We consider experimental signatures of the standard model's minimal supersymmetric extension with a continuous $U(1)_R$ symmetry (MR model). We focus on the ability of existing and planned electron-positron colliders to probe this model and to distinguish it from both the standard model and the standard model's minimal supersymmetric extension with a discrete $R$-parity.