Radiative PQ Breaking and the Higgs Boson Mass

TL;DR

This paper proposes a multiverse-based explanation for the Higgs boson mass and quartic coupling, linking anthropic selection, supersymmetry, and axion dark matter to observed values within a statistical framework.

Contribution

It introduces a landscape model with Peccei-Quinn symmetry and supersymmetry, predicting the Higgs mass and solving the strong CP problem through anthropic considerations.

Findings

Higgs mass predicted within 1σ of observed value (~125 GeV)

Solves the strong CP problem and predicts axion dark matter abundance

Provides a multiverse distribution for the Higgs quartic coupling

Abstract

The small and negative value of the Standard Model Higgs quartic coupling at high scales can be understood in terms of anthropic selection on a landscape where large and negative values are favored: most universes have a very short-lived electroweak vacuum and typical observers are in universes close to the corresponding metastability boundary. We provide a simple example of such a landscape with a Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking scale generated through dimensional transmutation and supersymmetry softly broken at an intermediate scale. Large and negative contributions to the Higgs quartic are typically generated on integrating out the saxion field. Cancellations among these contributions are forced by the anthropic requirement of a sufficiently long-lived electroweak vacuum, determining the multiverse distribution for the Higgs quartic in a similar way to that of the cosmological constant. This leads to a statistical prediction of the Higgs boson mass that, for a wide range of parameters, yields the observed value within the 1$\sigma$ statistical uncertainty of $\sim$ 5 GeV originating from the multiverse distribution. The strong CP problem is solved and single-component axion dark matter is predicted, with an abundance that can be understood from environmental selection. A more general setting for the Higgs mass prediction is discussed.