  In many strongly-interacting models of electroweak symmetry breaking the
lowest-lying observable particle is a pseudo-Goldstone boson of approximate
scale symmetry, the pseudo-dilaton. Its interactions with Standard Model
particles can be described using a low-energy effective nonlinear chiral
Lagrangian supplemented by terms that restore approximate scale symmetry,
yielding couplings of the pseudo-dilaton that differ from those of a Standard
Model Higgs boson by fixed factors. We review the experimental constraints on
such a pseudo-dilaton in light of new data from the LHC and elsewhere. The
effective nonlinear chiral Lagrangian has Skyrmion solutions that may be
identified with the `electroweak baryons' of the underlying
strongly-interacting theory, whose nature may be revealed by the properties of
the Skyrmions. We discuss the finite-temperature electroweak phase transition
in the low-energy effective theory, finding that the possibility of a
first-order electroweak phase transition is resurrected. We discuss the
evolution of the Universe during this transition and derive an
order-of-magnitude lower limit on the abundance of electroweak baryons in the
absence of a cosmological asymmetry, which suggests that such an asymmetry
would be necessary if the electroweak baryons are to provide the cosmological
density of dark matter. We revisit estimates of the corresponding
spin-independent dark matter scattering cross section, with a view to direct
detection experiments.
