The Higgs Mass and the Scale of New Physics

TL;DR

This paper investigates how higher-dimensional operators affect the stability of the Higgs vacuum and the implications for the scale of new physics beyond the Standard Model, using both perturbative and functional renormalization group methods.

Contribution

It introduces a framework combining perturbative and functional renormalization group approaches to include higher-dimensional operators in vacuum stability analysis.

Findings

Higher-dimensional operators can significantly alter the maximum UV scale of the Standard Model.

Presence of these operators can influence the existence and nature of vacuum instabilities.

The study links the instability scale to the scale of new physics needed to stabilize the vacuum.

Abstract

In view of the measured Higgs mass of 125 GeV, the perturbative renormalization group evolution of the Standard Model suggests that our Higgs vacuum might not be stable. We connect the usual perturbative approach and the functional renormalization group which allows for a straightforward inclusion of higher-dimensional operators in the presence of an ultraviolet cutoff. In the latter framework we study vacuum stability in the presence of higher-dimensional operators. We find that their presence can have a sizable influence on the maximum ultraviolet scale of the Standard Model and the existence of instabilities. Finally, we discuss how such operators can be generated in specific models and study the relation between the instability scale of the potential and the scale of new physics required to avoid instabilities.