Large Two-loop Effects in the Higgs Sector as New Physics Probes

TL;DR

This paper investigates how two-loop quantum corrections in a simple Higgs portal model significantly affect Higgs production and interactions, revealing potential new physics signals and CP violation sources.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed calculation of two-loop effects in Higgs processes within a Higgs portal model, highlighting their importance over effective field theory approaches.

Findings

Noticeable two-loop contributions to Higgsstrahlung cross section

Complex corrections to tri-Higgs coupling indicating CP violation

Higher-loop calculations are more reliable than EFT for light scalars

Abstract

We consider a simple Higgs portal model in beyond the standard model scenario: an extra real gauge singlet scalar that couples to the Higgs. We calculate the higher-loop corrections to the cross section of the Higgsstrahlung process $e^+e^- \rightarrow Z h$, along with the tri-Higgs coupling and the wave-function renormalization. We find noticeable contribution to the total Higgsstrahlung cross section, especially coming from two-loop diagrams. We also find that the correction to the tri-Higgs coupling is complex when this extra scalar is lighter than half of the center of mass energy. It indicates a new source of CP violation. In the region of this extra scalar being lighter than a couple of hundreds of GeVs, we argue that the higher-loop calculation is a more reliable approach than the effective field theory calculation.