Higgs Couplings and Naturalness

TL;DR

This paper explores the relationship between naturalness in particle physics, the existence of top partners, and deviations in Higgs couplings, proposing that precise measurements can test naturalness without model-specific assumptions.

Contribution

It establishes a model-independent link between Higgs coupling deviations and the degree of fine-tuning required in theories with top partners, providing a way to test naturalness experimentally.

Findings

Lower bounds on Higgs coupling deviations based on naturalness constraints

Precise Higgs coupling measurements can indicate the level of fine-tuning in models

A percent-level measurement of Higgs couplings can robustly test naturalness

Abstract

Many extensions of the Standard Model postulate the existence of new weakly coupled particles, the top partners, at or below the TeV scale. The role of the top partners is to cancel the quadratic divergence in the Higgs mass parameter due to top loops. We point out the generic correlation between naturalness (the degree of fine-tuning required to obtain the observed electroweak scale), and the size of top partner loop contributions to Higgs couplings to photons and gluons. If the fine-tuning is required to be at or below a certain level, a model-independent lower bound on the deviations of these Higgs couplings from the Standard Model can be placed (assuming no cancellations between contributions from various sources). Conversely, if a precise measurement of the Higgs couplings shows no deviation from the Standard Model, a certain amount of fine-tuning would be required. We quantify this connection, and argue that a measurement of the Higgs couplings at the per-cent level would provide a serious and robust test of naturalness.