We propose a general class of five-dimensional soft-wall models with AdS metric near the ultraviolet brane and four-dimensional Poincaré invariance, where the infrared scale is determined dynamically. A large UV/IR hierarchy can be generated without any fine-tuning, thus solving the electroweak/Planck scale hierarchy problem. Generically, the spectrum of fluctuations is discrete with a level spacing (mass gap) provided by the inverse length of the wall, similar to RS1 models with Standard Model fields propagating in the bulk. Moreover two particularly interesting cases arise. They can describe: (a) a theory with a continuous spectrum above the mass gap which can model unparticles corresponding to operators of a CFT where the conformal symmetry is broken by a mass gap, and; (b) a theory with a discrete spectrum provided by linear Regge trajectories as in AdS/QCD models.

We elaborate on a recently proposed mechanism to suppress large contributions to the electroweak precision observables in five dimensional (5D) warped models, without the need for an extended 5D gauge sector. The main ingredient is a modification of the AdS metric in the vicinity of the infrared (IR) brane corresponding to a strong deviation from conformality in the IR of the 4D holographic dual. We compute the general low energy effective theory of the 5D warped Standard Model, emphasizing additional IR contributions to the wave function renormalization of the light Higgs mode. We also derive expressions for the S and T parameters as a function of a generic 5D metric and zero-mode wave functions. We give an approximate formula for the mass of the radion that works even for strong deviation from the AdS background. We proceed to work out the details of an explicit model and derive bounds for the first KK masses of the various bulk fields. The radion is the lightest new particle although its mass is already at about 1/3 of the mass of the lightest resonances, the KK states of the gauge bosons. We examine carefully various issues that can arise for extreme choices of parameters such as the possible reintroduction of the hierarchy problem, the onset of nonperturbative physics due to strong IR curvature or the creation of new hierarchies near the Planck scale. We conclude that a KK scale of 1 TeV is compatible with all these constraints.

We propose an alternative to the introduction of an extra gauge (custodial) symmetry to suppress the contribution of KK modes to the T parameter in warped theories of electroweak breaking. The mechanism is based on a general class of warped 5D metrics and a Higgs propagating in the bulk. The metrics are nearly AdS in the UV region but depart from AdS in the IR region, towards where KK fluctuations are mainly localized, and have a singularity outside the slice between the UV and IR branes. This gravitational background is generated by a bulk stabilizing scalar field which triggers a natural solution to the hierarchy problem. Depending on the model parameters, gauge-boson KK modes can be consistent with present bounds on EWPT for m KK 1 TeV at 95% CL. The model contains a light Higgs mode which unitarizes the four-dimensional theory. The reduction in the precision observables can be traced back to a large wave function renormalization for this mode.