Gravity and the stability of the Higgs vacuum

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quantum gravity and small black holes influence the stability and decay rate of the Higgs vacuum, revealing that black holes can significantly accelerate vacuum decay.

Contribution

It introduces the role of small black holes as catalysts for Higgs vacuum decay and explores quantum gravity corrections affecting vacuum stability.

Findings

Small black holes can trigger rapid Higgs vacuum decay.

Quantum gravity corrections constrain Higgs potential parameters.

Black holes could influence collider experiments and vacuum stability.

Abstract

We discuss the effect of gravitational interactions on the lifetime of the Higgs vacuum where generic quantum gravity corrections are taken into account. We show how small black holes can act as seeds for vacuum decay, spontaneously nucleating a new Higgs phase centered on the black hole with a lifetime measured in millions of Planck times rather than billions of years. The constraints on parameter space of corrections to the Higgs potential are outlined, and implications for collider black holes discussed.