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Stability, Higgs boson mass, and new physics.
Vincenzo Branchina1, Emanuele Messina1
1Department of Physics, University of Catania and INFN, Sezione di Catania, Via Santa Sofia 64, I-95123 Catania, Italy.
Physical Review Letters
|February 4, 2014
Summary
The stability of the electroweak vacuum depends on new physics at the Planck scale. New physics can alter the electroweak vacuum lifetime, impacting metastability conclusions.
Area of Science:
- High Energy Physics
- Cosmology
- Quantum Field Theory
Background:
- The discovery of a Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with a mass of approximately 126 GeV prompts investigation into the stability of the electroweak vacuum.
- The Standard Model (SM) vacuum stability is a critical issue with implications for cosmology and high-energy physics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of new physics interactions at the Planck scale on the stability of the electroweak vacuum.
- To re-evaluate the metastability scenario of the electroweak vacuum in light of potential Planck-scale physics.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of electroweak vacuum stability considering higher-dimensional interactions at the Planck scale (MP).
- Inclusion of experimental values for the top and Higgs boson masses.
Main Results:
- Electroweak vacuum stability is sensitive to new physics interactions at the Planck scale, even those suppressed by inverse powers of MP.
- New physics can significantly alter the lifetime (τ) of the electroweak vacuum, potentially changing it from much longer than the age of the Universe (TU) to much shorter.
Conclusions:
- The metastability of the electroweak vacuum is not a robust conclusion and is strongly influenced by unknown physics at the Planck scale.
- The role of new physics at the Planck scale must be considered when assessing the ultimate fate of the electroweak vacuum.
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