Gauge hierarchy and metastability from Higgs-driven crunching
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13130_2025_Article_26544.pdf
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Author(s)
Benevedes, Sean
Ismail, Ameen
Steingasser, Thomas
Date Issued
June 24, 2025
Journal
Journal of High Energy Physics
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Citation
Benevedes, S., Ismail, A. & Steingasser, T. Gauge hierarchy and metastability from Higgs-driven crunching. J. High Energ. Phys. 2025, 228 (2025).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We present a new solution to the Higgs hierarchy problem based on dynamical vacuum selection in a landscape scanning the Higgs mass. In patches where the Higgs mass parameter takes a natural value, the Higgs potential only admits a minimum with a large and negative energy density. This causes a cosmological crunch, removing such patches from the landscape. Conversely, in patches where the Higgs mass parameter is smaller than a critical value, the Higgs potential admits a metastable minimum with the standard cosmological history. This critical value is determined by the instability scale, where the quartic coupling turns negative due to its running. The ability of this mechanism to explain the observed Higgs mass hinges on new physics at the TeV scale, such as vector-like fermions. We study two simple realizations of this scenario in a heavy neutral lepton model and in the singlet-doublet model, the latter mimicking a Higgsino-bino system. We show that the relevant parts of their parameter spaces can be probed by proposed future colliders, such as the FCC-ee or a muon collider.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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Creative Commons Attribution
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP06(2025)228
