Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Speaker: Víctor Enguita Vileta (IFT, Madrid)
Abstract: The parameters determining the properties of the Higgs potential all seem to take values which do not comply with our expectations, calling for a theoretical explanation which is often based in arguments of technical naturalness. In this talk, I will present an alternative approach in which the proximity of all the parameters in the Higgs potential to critical values marking quantum phase transitions is recognized. While such a property would be surprising from a conventional particle physics perspective, near-criticality is a commonplace feature in many dynamical systems, leading to the compelling conjecture that the unexpected values of these parameters were set by some dynamical mechanism in the Early Universe. Under the assumption that such a mechanism could exist, I analyse the requirements on Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics which would create a viable solution to the Electroweak hierarchy problem in this framework through the so-called ”Higgs metastability bound”. As well-motivated proof-of-concept examples with the right BSM components, I discuss the Majoron completion of the Type-I Seesaw mechanism and an axion-like particle (ALP), finding that in each case, the parametric regions successfully tackling the problem significantly overlap with the sensitivity regions at next-generation colliders.
Speaker: Víctor Enguita Vileta (IFT, Madrid)
Abstract: The parameters determining the properties of the Higgs potential all seem to take values which do not comply with our expectations, calling for a theoretical explanation which is often based in arguments of technical naturalness. In this talk, I will present an alternative approach in which the proximity of all the parameters in the Higgs potential to critical values marking quantum phase transitions is recognized. While such a property would be surprising from a conventional particle physics perspective, near-criticality is a commonplace feature in many dynamical systems, leading to the compelling conjecture that the unexpected values of these parameters were set by some dynamical mechanism in the Early Universe. Under the assumption that such a mechanism could exist, I analyse the requirements on Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics which would create a viable solution to the Electroweak hierarchy problem in this framework through the so-called ”Higgs metastability bound”. As well-motivated proof-of-concept examples with the right BSM components, I discuss the Majoron completion of the Type-I Seesaw mechanism and an axion-like particle (ALP), finding that in each case, the parametric regions successfully tackling the problem significantly overlap with the sensitivity regions at next-generation colliders.
