Stability of neutral minima against charge breaking in the Higgs triplet model

TL;DR

This paper investigates the stability of charge-preserving minima in the Higgs triplet model, deriving conditions under which charge-breaking minima can be deeper, and examining the effects of symmetries and soft breaking terms.

Contribution

It provides analytical expressions for the depths of different minima and analyzes how symmetries influence the stability of charge-preserving vacua.

Findings

Charge-breaking minima can be deeper under certain conditions.

Global symmetry enhances stability of charge-preserving vacua.

Soft symmetry breaking can lead to more accessible charge-breaking minima.

Abstract

We analyse the possibility of charge breaking minima developing in the Higgs triplet model, and under what conditions they are deeper than charge-preserving ones. Analytical expressions relating the depth of minima of different types are deduced. A global symmetry of the model leads to increased stability for charge-preserving vacua. However, if that symmetry is broken by a soft term, deeper charge-breaking minima may occur more easily. We identify the vev configurations most likely to produce charge breaking minima.