The properties of the critical point in electroweak theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates the critical point in electroweak theory, revealing its universality class and implications for the phase transition in the Standard Model.

Contribution

It identifies the critical point as belonging to the 3d Ising universality class and discusses its position relative to experimental bounds in the Standard Model.

Findings

Critical point is in the 3d Ising universality class.

The Standard Model's critical point is below the experimental Higgs mass bound.

No electroweak phase transition occurs in the Standard Model.

Abstract

We study the properties of the electroweak theory in the vicinity of the critical point --- the endpoint of the first order phase transition line that exists in a wide class of theories, including the Standard Model and a part of the parameter space of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. We find that the critical point belongs to the 3d Ising universality class. The endpoint in the Standard Model is located at the Higgs mass below the existing experimental lower bound, implying that there is no electroweak phase transition in this theory.