Triggering Higgs vacuum decay

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the likelihood of Higgs vacuum decay triggered by ultra-high energy collisions, concluding such events are highly suppressed and unlikely to pose a risk, with implications for cosmic rays and future colliders.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Higgs vacuum decay triggered by ultra-high energy collisions is suppressed similarly to spontaneous decay, challenging previous notions of potential hazards from cosmic rays and colliders.

Findings

Ultra-high energy collisions do not significantly enhance vacuum decay risk.

Cosmic ray collisions are safe despite high production rates.

Potential for classical vacuum decay induction at future colliders.

Abstract

The Standard Model Higgs potential seems unstable at field values $h > h_{\rm top} \sim 10^{10}\,{\rm GeV}$. Vacuum decay can be triggered by $N\sim 4\pi/\lambda \sim 1000$ overlapped Higgs bosons with energy $\sqrt{\lambda} h_{\rm top}$. However, this configuration is stimulated by ultra-high energy collisions with a $\exp(-{\cal O}(N))$ suppression, comparable to spontaneous vacuum decay: no `Higgspolosion' enhancement arises. This implies that ultra-high energy cosmic ray collisions are safe, despite that their number (in production sites) likely is tens of orders of magnitude higher than what usually estimated (in space). We speculate on how vacuum decay could be induced classically, forming a in-coming wave of $N$ boosted Higgs bosons at futuristic ultra-high energy colliders, and on how the resulting vacuum bubble could be controlled to extract energy.