The Triple-Alpha Process and the Anthropically Allowed Values of the Weak Scale

TL;DR

This paper investigates how variations in the Higgs vacuum expectation value affect the triple-alpha process in stars, constraining the range of values that allow for sufficient carbon production and potentially supporting life.

Contribution

It introduces a stellar nucleosynthesis perspective to narrow the anthropically allowed Higgs vacuum expectation values beyond previous bounds.

Findings

Higgs VEV must be > 0.90 times the observed value for carbon formation

The allowed Higgs VEV range is significantly narrowed by stellar nucleosynthesis constraints

The results refine anthropic bounds on fundamental constants

Abstract

In multiple-universe models, the constants of nature may have different values in different universes. Agrawal, Barr, Donoghue and Seckel have pointed out that the Higgs mass parameter, as the only dimensionful parameter of the standard model, is of particular interest. By considering a range of values of this parameter, they showed that the Higgs vacuum expectation value must have a magnitude less than 5.0 times its observed value, in order for complex elements, and thus life, to form. In this report, we look at the effects of the Higgs mass parameter on the triple-alpha process in stars. This process, which is greatly enhanced by a resonance in Carbon-12, is responsible for virtually all of the carbon production in the universe. We find that the Higgs vacuum expectation value must have a magnitude greater than 0.90 times its observed value in order for an appreciable amount of carbon to form, thus significantly narrowing the allowed region of Agrawal et al.