Higgs mass implications on the stability of the electroweak vacuum

We update instability and metastability bounds of the Standard Model electroweak vacuum in view of the recent ATLAS and CMS Higgs results. For a Higgs mass in the range 124–126 GeV, and for the current central values of the top mass and strong coupling constant, the Higgs potential develops an instability around 10¹¹ GeV, with a lifetime much longer than the age of the Universe. However, taking into account theoretical and experimental errors, stability up to the Planck scale cannot be excluded. Stability at finite temperature implies an upper bound on the reheat temperature after inflation, which depends critically on the precise values of the Higgs and top masses. A Higgs mass in the range 124–126 GeV is compatible with very high values of the reheating temperature, without conflict with mechanisms of baryogenesis such as leptogenesis. We derive an upper bound on the mass of heavy right-handed neutrinos by requiring that their Yukawa couplings do not destabilize the Higgs potential.     

125 GeV Higgs,type III seesaw and gauge–Higgs unification

Recently, both the ATLAS and CMS experiments have observed an excess of events that could be the first evidence for a 125 GeV Higgs boson. This is a few GeV below the (absolute) vacuum stability bound on the Higgs mass in the Standard Model (SM), assuming a Planck mass ultraviolet (UV) cutoff. In this Letter, we study some implications of a 125 GeV Higgs boson for new physics in terms of the vacuum stability bound. We first consider the seesaw extension of the SM and find that in type III seesaw, the vacuum stability bound on the Higgs mass can be as low as 125 GeV for the seesaw scale around a TeV. Next we discuss some alternative new physics models which provide an effective ultraviolet cutoff lower than the Planck mass. An effective cutoff Λ?10¹¹ GeV$\Lambda ?{10}^{11}\text{GeV}$ leads to a vacuum stability bound on the Higgs mass of 125 GeV. In a gauge–Higgs unification scenario with five-dimensional flat spacetime, the so-called gauge–Higgs condition can yield a Higgs mass of 125 GeV, with the compactification scale of the extra-dimension being identified as the cutoff scale Λ?10¹¹ GeV$\Lambda ?{10}^{11}\text{GeV}$. Identifying the compactification scale with the unification scale of the SM SU(2) gauge coupling and the top quark Yukawa coupling yields a Higgs mass of 121±2 GeV$121\pm 2\text{GeV}$.     

Study of W Boson in a Magnetic Field Based upon Both Mass Operator and Effective Potential

A review of W boson properties in a constant magnetic field is given. The one-loop radiative corrections to the W boson mass operator and to the effective potential are taken into account simultaneously. The external field mass-shell equation and the Lorentz condition, which follows from it, also been considered with radiation effects included. The mass operator on the mass-shell in the weak and critical field limits is found and discussed. The critical field tachyon problem is investigated with regard to the radiative corrections. It is argued that the consistent treatment of the W boson in an external magnetic field crucially depends upon the value of the Higgs particle mass. The self consistency argument, related to the zero-charge situation in the critical field region, leads to an upper bound on the Higgs boson mass approximately equal to 280 GeV/c².     

Baryogenesis,proton decay and fermion masses in supergravity guts

In realistic N = 1 supergravity theories with a gravitino mass of order 1 TeV, the reheat temperature after inflation is bounded to be no greater than 10⁸ GeV. We construct an N = 1 supergravity model with realistic fermion masses and mixings in which D = 5 operators are suppressed by a Peccei-Quinn symmetry. We compute the ensuing proton decay and show that the dominant modes involve strange particles in the final state. Efficient baryogenesis is induced by Higgs decay to massive right-handed neutrinos and we find an upper bound on the proton lifetime if the Higgs are light enough to be reheated.     

Upper limit to the lightest Higgs mass in supersymmetric models

Consider all models in which the effective low-energy theory has an SU(3) × SU(2) × U(1) gauge group, softly or spontaneously broken supersymmetry, and Higgs doublets. Even though, in general, mass terms in such models are arbitrary (thus “ino” masses can be pushed up to higher and higher values), one can derive mass relations between ordinary Higgs particles. The most crucial relation gives an upper bound of 93 GeV on the mass of the lightest Higgs scalar. We discuss these relations and calculate radiative corrections to them. It is shown that the upper bound can not exceed 95 GeV, and the lower limit to the mass of charged scalar is 78 GeV. Corrections to other relations are also discussed. These relations may provide the first definitive test of low-energy supersymmetry.     

The higgs boson mass from precision electroweak data

We present a new global fit to precision electroweak data, including new low- and high-energy data and analyzing the radiative corrections arising from the minimal symmetry breaking sectors of the Standard Model (SM) and its supersymmetric extension (MSSM). It is shown that present data favor a Higgs mass ofO(M _z):M _H=76 _?50 ⁺¹⁵² GeV. We confront our analysis with (meta) stability and perturbative bounds on the SM Higgs mass, and the theoretical upper bound on the MSSM Higgs mass. Present data do not discriminate significantly between the SM and MSSM Higgs mass ranges. We comment in passing on the sensitivity of the Higgs mass determination to the values ofα(M _z) andα _s(M _z).     

Higgs bosons in the simplest SUSY models

Nowadays, in the MSSM, the moderate values of tan β are almost excluded by the LEP II lower bound on the mass of the lightest Higgs boson. In the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM), the theoretical upper bound on it increases and reaches a maximal value in the limit of strong Yukawa coupling, where all solutions to renormalization-group equations are concentrated near the quasifixed point. For a calculation of the Higgs boson spectrum, the perturbation-theory method can be applied. We investigate the particle spectrum within the modified NMSSM, which leads to the self-consistent solution in the limit of strong Yukawa coupling. This model allows one to get m _h～125 GeV at tan β≥1.9. In the model under investigation, the mass of the lightest Higgs boson does not exceed 130.5±3.5 GeV. The upper bound on the mass of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson in more complicated supersymmetric models is also discussed.     

Gauge hierarchies and mass bounds

We consider the effects of weak symmetry breaking by radiative corrections in a scheme of gauge hierarchies. We obtain new mass bounds on heavy fermions and show how discovery of a Higgs boson may distinguish between two different approaches to hierarchial spontaneous gauge symmetry breakdown. If there are no intrinsic mass scales below ～10¹⁵ GeV then discovery of a Higgs boson at ～9 GeV implies the existence of heavy fermions.     

Upper bounds on superpartner masses from upper bounds on the Higgs boson mass

The LHC is putting bounds on the Higgs boson mass. In this Letter we use those bounds to constrain the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) parameter space using the fact that, in supersymmetry, the Higgs mass is a function of the masses of sparticles, and therefore an upper bound on the Higgs mass translates into an upper bound for the masses for superpartners. We show that, although current bounds do not constrain the MSSM parameter space from above, once the Higgs mass bound improves big regions of this parameter space will be excluded, putting upper bounds on supersymmetry (SUSY) masses. On the other hand, for the case of split-SUSY we show that, for moderate or large tanβ, the present bounds on the Higgs mass imply that the common mass for scalars cannot be greater than 10(11) GeV. We show how these bounds will evolve as LHC continues to improve the limits on the Higgs mass.     

Mass bounds of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson in the two-Higgs-doublet model

The upper and the lower bounds of the lightest CP-even Higgs-boson mass (m_h) are discussed in the two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM) with a softly-broken discrete symmetry. They are obtained as a function of a cut-off scale Λ (≤10¹⁹ GeV) by imposing the conditions in which the running coupling constants neither blow up nor fall down below Λ. In comparison with the standard model (SM), although the upper bound does not change very much, the lower bound is considerably reduced. In the decoupling regime where only one Higgs boson (h) becomes much lighter than the others, the lower bound is given, for example, by about 100 GeV for Λ=10¹⁹ GeV and m_t=175 GeV, which is smaller by about 40 GeV than the corresponding lower bound in the SM. In generic cases, m_h is no longer bounded from below by these conditions. If we consider the b→sγ constraint, small values of m_h are excluded in Model II of the 2HDM.     

Light singlet particles and their cosmological consequences in witten-type supersymmetric models

In a class of supersymmetric gauge models which generate a large mass scale from a supersymmetry breaking mass scale M through loop corrections, there exists generally a very light scalar particle which transforms like a singlet under SU(3)_c × SU(2)_L with no U(1) charge. Cosmological constraints on such a particle are so severe that an upper bound is set on possible values of supersymmetry breaking scale in this class of models as M ? 500 TeV provided that the large mass scale is 10¹⁵ GeV and the mass of the light scalar particle is generated in one-loop order. This bound holds even if the goldstino is not absorbed into the gravitino.     

Non-anomalous discrete R-symmetry, extra matters, and enhancement of the lightest SUSY Higgs mass

We consider low-energy supersymmetric model with non-anomalous discrete R-symmetry. To make the R-symmetry non-anomalous, we add new particles to the particle content of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). Those new particles may couple to the Higgs boson, resulting in a significant enhancement of the lightest Higgs mass. We show that, in such a model, the lightest Higgs mass can be much larger than the MSSM upper bound; the lightest Higgs mass as large as 140 GeV (or larger) becomes possible.     

Radiative corrections to the scalar Higgs masses in a non-minimal supersymmetric Standard Model

We calculate the dominant one-loop radiative corrections arising from quark-squark loops to the mass squared matrix of theCP-even Higgs bosons in a non-minimal supersymmetric Standard Model containing two Higgs doublets and a Higgs singlet chiral superfield using one-loop effective potential approximation. We use this result to evaluate upper and lower bounds on the radiatively corrected masses of all the scalar Higgs bosons as a function of the parameters of the model. We find that the one-loop radiative corrections are substantial only for the lightest Higgs boson of the model and can push its mass beyond the reach of LEP. We also calculate an absolute upper bound on the mass of the radiatively corrected lightest Higgs boson and compare it with the corresponding bound in the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model.     

Particle spectrum in the modified nonminimal supersymmetric standard model in the strong Yukawa coupling regime

A theoretical analysis of solutions of renormalization group equations in the minimal supersymmetric standard model, which lead to a quasi-fixed point has shown that the mass of the lightest Higgs boson in these models does not exceed 94 ± 5 GeV. This implies that a considerable part of the parameter space in the minimal supersymmetric model is in fact eliminated by existing LEPII experimental data. In the nonminimal supersymmetric standard model the upper bound on the mass of the lightest Higgs boson reaches its maximum in the strong Yukawa coupling regime when the Yukawa constants are substantially greater than the gauge constants on the grand unification scale. In the present paper the particle spectrum is studied using the simplest modification of the nonminimal supersymmetric standard model which gives a self-consistent solution in this region of parameter space. This model can give m _h ～ 125 GeV even for comparatively low values of β ≥ 1.9. The spectrum of Higgs bosons and neutralinos is analyzed using the method of diagonalizing mass matrices proposed earlier. In this model the mass of the lightest Higgs boson does not exceed 130.5 ± 3.5 GeV.     

Cosmological and astrophysical bounds on the scale of supersymmetry breaking

We derive an upper bound f < 10⁶ GeV on the scale of the breaking of supersymmetry from the mass density of the universe and a lower bound f 40 GeV from stellar evolution.     

Towards high-precision predictions for the MSSM Higgs sector

The status of the evaluation of the MSSM Higgs sector is reviewed. The phenomenological impact of recently obtained corrections is discussed. In particular it is shown that the upper bound on m_h within the MSSM is shifted upwards. Consequently, lower limits on obtained by confronting the upper bound as function of with the lower bound on m_h from Higgs searches are significantly weakened. Furthermore, th e region in the M_A--plane where the coupling of the lightest Higgs boson to down-type fermions is suppressed is modified. The presently not calculated higher-order corrections to the Higgs-boson mass matrix are estimated to shift the mass of the lightest Higgs boson by up to 3 GeV. Received: 12 December 2002 / Published online: 3 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: giuseppe.degrassi@roma3.infn.it RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: Sven.Heinemeyer@physik.uni-muenchen.de RID="c" ID="c" e-mail: hollik@mppmu.mpg.de RID="d" ID="d" e-mail: slavich@mppmu.mpg.de RID="e" ID="e" e-mail: Georg.Weiglein@durham.ac.uk     

Radiative corrections to Higgs production by e+e−→ZH in the Weinberg-Salam model

We present a complete analysis of the one-loop radiative corrections to the associated production of a Higgs boson (H) and a neutral vector boson (Z) in e⁺e^? annihilation up to energies and Higgs-boson masses of 1 TeV. In the region of interest for future experiments E ? 200 GeV (m_H ? 100 GeV) we find corrections of +25% which are essentially cancelled by soft-photon effects. The latter amount to ?31% for an electron counter resolution of 0.1.     

Ultra heavy fermion bound states via Higgs exchange

We study the characteristic features of the ultra heavy fermion bound state via Higgs exchange. The constraint under which such a bound state occurs is presented. For a typical example of Higgs and fermion mass, M_H≅ 100 GeV / c² and M_F≅ 700 GeV/c², the wave function at the origin of the bound states via Higgs exchange becomes about 100 times larger than that via gluon exchange.     

Dark Supersymmetry

We propose a model of Dark Supersymmetry, where a supersymmetric dark sector is coupled to the classically scale invariant non-supersymmetric Standard Model through the Higgs portal. The dark sector contains a mass scale that is protected against radiative corrections by supersymmetry, and the portal coupling mediates this scale to the Standard Model, resulting in a vacuum expectation value for the Higgs field and the usual electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism. The supersymmetric dark sector contains dark matter candidates, and we show that the observed dark matter abundance is generated for a natural choice of parameters, while avoiding the current experimental bounds on direct detection. Future experiments can probe this scenario if the dark sector mass scale is not too high.     

Search for neutral Higgs bosons in Z0 decays using the OPAL detector at LEP

A search for neutral Higgs bosons has been performed using the full sample of Z⁰ decays collected by the OPAL detector at LEP up to 1995. The data were taken at centre-of-mass energies between 88 GeV and 95 GeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of approximately 160 pb^?1. The present search addresses the processes Z⁰→H⁰Z* and h⁰Z*, where H⁰ is the Higgs boson predicted by the Standard Model and h⁰ the lightest neutral scalar Higgs boson predicted in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. For the virtual Z⁰ boson, Z*, the following decay channels are considered: Z*→vv?, e⁺e^? and μ⁺μ^?. Two candidate events have been found in the vv?H⁰ channel and one in the μ⁺μ^?H⁰ channel. Combined with earlier searches, the present search excludes the SM Higgs boson, at the 95% confidence level (CL), from the mass range below 59.6 GeV. In the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, allowing a wide range of variation for most relevant model parameters, a 95% CL lower limit of 44.3 GeV is obtained for the mass of the h⁰ boson. Combined with earlier direct searches for the Higgs boson pair production process Z⁰→h⁰A⁰ and with measurements of the Z⁰ line shape, a 95% CL lower limit of 23.5 GeV is obtained for the mass of the pseudoscalar Higgs boson A⁰, assuming tan β≥ 1.