Dark energy, the electroweak vacua and collider phenomenology

TL;DR

This paper explores how higher-dimensional operators can alter the Higgs potential, leading to a second vacuum that influences cosmology and collider phenomenology, potentially explaining late-time cosmic acceleration.

Contribution

It introduces the role of kink-like solutions in reconstructing the Higgs potential's global shape through collider experiments.

Findings

Presence of a second vacuum affects cosmological phase transitions.

Kink solutions can be used to infer the Higgs potential shape.

Potential for collider signatures related to the modified Higgs potential.

Abstract

Higher dimensional non-renormalizable operators may modify the Standard Model Higgs potential in many interesting ways. Here, we consider the appearance of a second vacuum which may play an important role in cosmology. For the certain range of parameters, the usual second order electroweak phase transition is followed by a first order phase transition that may drive the late time accelerated expansion of the universe. Such a potential contains kink-like solutions which in turn can play a crucial role in reconstructing the global shape of the potential in colliders, as we explicitly demonstrate.