Within multi-Higgs-doublet models, one can impose symmetries on the Higgs potential, either discrete or continuous, that mix several doublets. In two-Higgs-doublet model any such symmetry can be conserved or spontaneously violated after the electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB), depending on the coefficients of the potential. With more than two doublets, there exist symmetries which are always spontaneously violated after EWSB. We discuss the origin of this phenomenon and show its similarity to geometric frustration in condensed-matter physics.
We consider the Higgs sector of multi-Higgs-doublet models in the presence of simple symmetries relating the various fields. We construct basis invariant observables which may in principle be used to detect these symmetries for any number of doublets. A categorization of the symmetries into classes is required, which we perform in detail for the case of two and three Higgs doublets.
We derive the complete set of continuous maximal symmetries for Standard Model (SM) alignment that may occur in the tree-level scalar potential of multi-Higgs Doublet Models, with $n > 2$ Higgs doublets. Our results generalize the symmetries of SM alignment, without decoupling of large mass scales or fine-tuning, previously obtained in the context of two-Higgs Doublet Models.
The exact alignment of the Yukawa structures on multi-Higgs doublet models provides cancellation of tree-level flavour changing couplings of neutral scalar fields. We show that family symmetries can provide a suitable justification for the Yukawa alignment.
The new phenomenon of symbiotic symmetries is described in the context of the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (THDM). The quartic potential has two or more separate sectors with unequal symmetries, but these unequal symmetries persist even though the different sectors are renormalized by one another. We discuss all such symmetries of the THDM, consistent with the SU(2) x U(1) gauge interactions, using the Pauli formalism.
We report the recent progress in understanding of symmetries which can be implemented in the scalar sector of electroweak symmetry breaking models with several Higgs doublets. In particular we present the list of finite reparametrization symmetry groups which can appear in the three-Higgs-doublet models.
We catalogue and study three-Higgs-doublet models in terms of all possible allowed symmetries (continuous and discrete, Abelian and non-Abelian), where such symmetries may be identified as flavour symmetries of quarks and leptons. We analyse the potential in each case, and derive the conditions under which the vacuum alignments (0,0,v), (0,v,v) and (v,v,v) are minima of the potential. For the alignment (0,0,v), relevant for dark matter models, we calculate the corresponding physical Higgs boson mass spectrum. Motivated by supersymmetry, we extend the analysis to the case of three up-type Higgs…
The potential of $n$-Higgs Doublet Models ($n$HDMs) contains a large number of SU(2)$_L$-preserving accidental symmetries as subgroups of the symplectic group Sp(2$n)$. To classify these, we introduce prime invariants and irreducible representations in bilinear field space that enable us to explicitly construct accidentally symmetric $n$HDM potentials. We showcase the classifications of symmetries and present the relationship among the theoretical parameters of the scalar potential for; (i) the Two Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM) and (ii) the Three Higgs Doublet Model (3HDM). We recover the maximum…
Classifying the symmetries of the scalar sector in multi-Higgs-doublet models is the main focus of this thesis. We have found certain symmetries that are always broken in models with more than two doublets, which we name "frustrated symmetries". In the attempt towards the classification of possible symmetries in the scalar sector of the NHDM, we find that these symmetry groups are either subgroups of the maximal torus, or certain finite Abelian groups which are not subgroups of maximal tori. For the subgroups of the maximal torus, we present an algorithmic strategy that gives the full list of …
Recently, it has been shown [arXiv:1106.3482] that the two-Higgs-doublet-model potential may exhibit a maximum of 13 distinct accidental symmetries. Such a classification is based on a six-dimensional bilinear scalar field formalism realizing the SO(1,5) symmetry group. This note presents the transformation relations for each of the 13 symmetries in the original scalar field space and their one-to-one correspondence to the space of scalar bilinears, thereby providing firm support for the completeness of the classification.
A general method for classifying the possible quark models of a multi-Higgs-doublet model, in the presence of Abelian symmetries, is presented. All the possible sets of textures that can be present in a given sector are shown, thus turning the determination of the flavor models into a combinatorial problem. Several symmetry implementations are studied for two and three Higgs doublet models. Some models implementations are explored in great detail, with a particular emphasis on models known as Branco-Grimus-Lavoura and nearest-neighbour-nnteraction. Several considerations on the flavor changing…
We demonstrate how residual flavour symmetries, infrared signatures of symmetry breaking in complete models of flavour, can naturally forbid (or limit in a flavour specific way) flavour-changing neutral currents (FCNC) in multi-Higgs-doublet models (MHDM) without using mass hierarchies. We first review how this model-independent mechanism can control the fermionic mixing patterns of the Standard Model, and then implement the symmetries in the Yukawa sector of MHDM, which allows us to intimately connect the predictivity of a given flavour model with its ability to sequester FCNC. Finally, after…
We consider the impact of imposing generalized CP symmetries on the Higgs sector of the two-Higgs-doublet model, and identify three classes of symmetries. Two of these classes constrain the scalar potential parameters to an exceptional region of parameter space which respects either a Z_2 discrete flavor symmetry or a U(1) symmetry. We exhibit a basis-invariant quantity that distinguishes between these two possible symmetries. We also show that the consequences of imposing these two classes of CP symmetry can be achieved by combining Higgs Family symmetries, and that this is not possible for t…
We classify all possible implementations of an abelian symmetry in the two-Higgs-doublet model with fermions. We identify those symmetries which are consistent with non-vanishing quark masses and a CKM matrix which is not block-diagonal. Our analysis takes us from a plethora of possibilities down to 246 relevant cases, requiring only 34 distinct matrix forms. We show that applying Z_n with n \geq 4 to the scalar sector leads to a continuous U(1) symmetry in the whole Lagrangian. Finally, we address the possibilities of spontaneous CP violation and of natural suppression of the flavour changing…
Classifying symmetry groups which can be implemented in the scalar sector of a model with $N$ Higgs doublets is a difficult and an unsolved task for $N>2$. Here, we make the first step towards this goal by classifying the Abelian symmetry groups. We describe a strategy that identifies all Abelian groups which can be realized as symmetry groups of the NHDM scalar potential. We give examples of the use of this strategy in 3HDM and 4HDM and prove several statements for arbitrary $N$.
We analyze the compatibility between abelian symmetries acting in two different sectors of a theory using the Smith Normal Form method. We focus on N-Higgs-doublet models (NHDMs) and on the compatibility between symmetries in the Higgs potential and in the Yukawa interactions, which were separately analyzed previous works. It is shown that two equal (isomorphic) symmetry groups that act in two separate sectors are not necessarily compatible in the whole theory and an upper bound is found for the size of the group that can be implemented in the entire NHDM. We also develop useful techniques to …
We discuss the classification of symmetries and the corresponding symmetry groups in the two-Higgs-doublet model (THDM). We give an easily useable method how to determine the symmetry class and corresponding symmetry group of a given THDM Higgs potential. One of the symmetry classes corresponds to a Higgs potential with several simultaneous generalised CP symmetries. Extending the CP symmetry of this class to the Yukawa sector in a straightforward way, the so-called maximally-CP-symmetric model (MCPM) is obtained. We study the evolution of the quartic Higgs-potential parameters under a change …
We investigate finite abelian groups which can represent symmetries of the N-Higgs-doublet models with quarks. We build a general formalism based on the powerful method of the Smith normal form and obtain an analytic upper bound on the order of abelian symmetry groups for any N. We investigate in detail the case N=2 and rederive known results in a more compact and intuitive fashion. We also study the NHDM with the maximal finite abelian symmetry for all small N cases up to N=5, and show that in each case all Yukawa textures compatible with such symmetry originate from a unique basic structure.…
A very specific two-Higgs-doublet extension of the Glashow-Salam-Weinberg model for one generation of quarks is advocated for, in which the two doublets are parity transformed of each other and both isomorphic to the Higgs doublet of the Standard Model. The chiral group U(2)_L X U(2)_R gets broken down to U(1) X U(1)_{em}. In there, the first diagonal U(1) is directly connected to parity through the U(1)_LX U(1)_R algebra. Both chiral and weak symmetry breaking can be accounted for, together with their relevant degrees of freedom. The two Higgs doublets are demonstrated to be in one-to-one cor…
We propose a class of the two Higgs doublet Standard models (SMs) with a SM singlet and a class of supersymmetric SMs with two pairs of Higgs doublets, where the right-handed up/charm quarks and the right-handed top quark have different quantum numbers under extra discrete symmetries. Thus, the right-handed up and charm quarks couple to one Higgs doublet field, while the right-handed top quark couples to another Higgs doublet. The quark CKM mixings can be generated from the down-type quark sector. As one of phenomenological consequences in our models, we explore whether one can accommodate the…
The two-Higgs-doublet model can be constrained by imposing Higgs-family symmetries and/or generalized CP symmetries. It is known that there are only six independent classes of such symmetry-constrained models. We study the CP properties of all cases in the bilinear formalism. An exact symmetry implies CP conservation. We show that soft breaking of the symmetry can lead to spontaneous CP violation (CPV) in three of the classes.
Symmetries play a crucial role in electroweak symmetry breaking models with non-minimal Higgs content. Within each class of these models, it is desirable to know which symmetry groups can be implemented via the scalar sector. In N-Higgs-doublet models, this classification problem was solved only for N=2 doublets. Very recently, we suggested a method to classify all realizable finite symmetry groups of Higgs-family transformations in the three-Higgs-doublet model (3HDM). Here, we present this classification in all detail together with an introduction to the theory of solvable groups, which play…
In the two Higgs doublet model with no additional symmetries in the scalar sector (different from the gauge and Lorentz symmetries), it is customary to reparameterize the model by rotating the scalar doublets such that one of the vacuum expectation values vanishes. It is well known that the Yukawa sector of the model is unaffected by such transformation. Notwithstanding, since the Higgs potential must also be transformed, it is necessary to show that such sector is also unaltered in its physical content. We demostrate that the physical content of the potential is invariant even when the charge…
N-Higgs-doublet models (NHDM) are among the most popular examples of electroweak symmetry breaking mechanisms beyond the Standard Model. Discrete symmetries imposed on the NHDM scalar potential play a pivotal role in shaping the phenomenology of the model, and various symmetry groups have been studied so far. However, in spite of all efforts, the classification of finite Higgs-family symmetry groups realizable in NHDM for any N>2 is still missing. Here, we solve this problem for the three-Higgs-doublet model by making use of Burnside's theorem and other results from pure finite group theory wh…
2-Higgs Doublet Models (2HDMs) typically need to invoke an ad-hoc discrete symmetry to avoid severe flavor bounds and in addition feature massless neutrinos, thus falling short of naturally complying with existing data. However, when augmented by an Abelian gauge symmetry naturally incorporating neutrino masses via a type-I seesaw mechanism while at the same time escaping flavor changing interactions, such enlarged 2HDMs become very attractive phenomenologically. In such frameworks, the distinctive element is the $Z'$ gauge boson generated by the spontaneous breaking of the Abelian group $U(1)…
Tree-level accidental symmetries are known to play a fundamental role in the phenomenology of the Standard Model (SM) for electroweak interactions. So far, no significant deviations from the theory have been observed in precision, flavour and collider physics. Consequently, these global symmetries are expected to remain quite efficient in any attempt beyond the SM. Yet, they do not forbid rather unorthodox phenomena within the reach of current LHC experiments. This is illustrated with a vectophobic Two-Higgs-Doublet-Model (2HDM) where effects of a light, flavour-violating and custodian (pseudo…
We explore some aspects of models with two and three SU(2) scalar doublets that lead to mass degeneracies among some of the physical scalars. In Higgs sectors with two scalar doublets, the exact degeneracy of scalar masses, without an artificial fine-tuning of the scalar potential parameters, is possible only in the case of the inert doublet model (IDM), where the scalar potential respects a global U(1) symmetry that is not broken by the vacuum. In the case of three doublets, we introduce and analyze the replicated inert doublet model, which possesses two inert doublets of scalars. We then gen…
Within the supersymmetric SO(10) GUT we explore the possibility of the light Higgs doublet being a member of the 16-dimensional spinorial representation. This fact is ultimately related with the assumption that the light matter (at least partially) resides in some of the tensor representations as well. Several interesting features emerge. First, provided that the same 16-plet is responsible for the breaking $SO(10) \rightarrow SU(5)$, the heaviness of the top can automatically follow from the field content at $M_{GUT}$, without need of any flavour symmetries. Secondly, the doublet--triplet spl…
The anomalous U(1)_A symmetry provides a generic method of getting accidental symmetries. Therefore, it can play a crucial role in solving the doublet-triplet splitting and the μ-problems via the `pseudo-Goldstone' mechanism: U(1)_A can naturally uncorrelate the two grand unified Higgs sectors in the superpotential and simultaneously induce the desired expectation values through the Fayet-Iliopoulos D-term. The zero modes of the resulting compact vacuum degeneracy can be identified with the massless electroweak Higgs doublets. This automatically solves the doublet-triplet splitting and the μ-p…
In the two-Higgs-Doublet model the alignment of the Yukawa flavour matrices of the two scalar doublets guarantees the absence of tree-level flavour-changing neutral couplings. The resulting fermion-scalar interactions are parameterized in terms of three complex parameters, leading to a generic Yukawa structure which contains as particular cases all known specific implementations of the model based on Z2 symmetries. These three complex parameters are potential new sources of CP violation.
We show that in two Higgs doublet models at tree-level the potential minimum preserving electric charge and CP symmetries, when it exists, is the global one. Furthermore, we derived a very simple condition, involving only the coefficients of the quartic terms of the potential, that guarantees spontaneous CP breaking.
A large class of two- and three-Higgs-doublet models with discrete symmetries has been employed in the literature to address various aspects of flavor physics. We analyse how the precision measurement of the Higgs to diphoton signal strength would severely constrain these scenarios due to the nondecoupling behavior of the charged scalars, to the extent that the number of additional scalar doublets can be constrained no matter how heavy the nonstandard scalars are. We demonstrate that if the scalar potential is endowed with appropriate global continuous symmetries together with soft breaking pa…
We construct a 5D SUSY SU(6) GUT on an $S^{(1)}/Z_2\tm Z_2'$ orbifold. The first stage of gauge symmetry breaking occurs through compactification and a specific selection of boundary conditions. Additional symmetries play a crucial role for the generation of $μ$ and $Bμ$ terms of appropriate values: with a $SU(2)_{cus}$ custodial symmetry the Higgs doublets naturally emerge as massless pseudo-Goldstone bosons in the unbroken SUSY limit. After SUSY breaking they get masses of the order of the weak scale. If instead of $SU(2)_{cus}$ a discrete $Z_5$ symmetry is applied the Higgs doublet's masses…
Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa — ISEL（里斯本高等工程学院）；Centro de Física Teórica e Computacional, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa（里斯本大学理学院理论与计算物理中心）
We discuss the three different classes of CP-symmetries that can be realized in a two-Higgs-doublet model, CP1, CP2 and CP3. We express conditions for realizing these symmetries in terms of masses and couplings of the model, thereby providing a way of verifying which, if any, of these symmetries is realized by nature.
An SU(2) lattice gauge theory with two doublets of complex scalar fields is considered. All continuous symmetries are identified and, using the nonperturbative methods of lattice field theory, the phase diagram is mapped out by direct numerical simulation. Two-doublet models contain phase transitions that separate qualitatively distinct regions of the parameter space. In some regions global symmetries are spontaneously broken. For some special choices of the model parameters, the symmetry-breaking order parameter is calculated. The pattern of symmetry breaking is verified further through obser…
The recent discovery of a Standard Model-like boson with mass of about 126 GeV seems to be the first direct information on the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism. Using the available experimental data from the LHC and Tevatron we study the implications on the parameter space of the Two-Higgs Doublet Model extension of the Standard Model. The generic structure of the Aligned Two-Higgs Doublet model is imposed in the Yukawa sector; also the models with discrete $\mathcal{Z}_2$ symmetries are analyzed.
We conjecture the existence of a relation between elementary scalars and fermions, making it plausible the existence of three Higgs doublets. We introduce a Trinity Principle (TP) which, given the fact that there are no massless quarks, requires the existence of a minimum of three Higgs doublets. The TP states that each line of the mass matrix of a quark of a given charge should receive the contribution from one and only one scalar doublet and furthermore a given scalar doublet should contribute to one and only one line of the mass matrix of a quark of a given charge. This principle is analogo…
It has been known since decades that imposing a symmetry group G on the scalar sector of multi-Higgs-doublet models has consequences for CP-violation. In all examples of two- and three-Higgs-doublet models equipped with symmetries, one observes the following intriguing property: if G prevents explicit CP-violation (CPV), at least in the neutral Higgs sector, then it also prevents spontaneous CPV, and if G allows explicit CPV, then it allows for spontaneous CPV. One is led to conjecture that this is a general phenomenon. In this paper, we prove this conjecture for any rephasing symmetry group G…
Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa（里斯本大学高等技术学院）；Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC‐Universitat de València（瓦伦西亚大学西班牙国家研究委员会粒子物理研究所）；University of Bergen（卑尔根大学）
We present the complete set of continuous maximal symmetries that the potential of an $n$-Higgs Doublet Model ($n$HDM) should satisfy for natural Standard Model (SM) alignment. As a result, no large mass scales or fine-tuning is required for such alignment, which still persists even if these symmetries were broken softly by bilinear mass terms. In particular, the Maximal Symmetric $n$HDM (MS-$n$HDM) can provide both natural SM alignment and quartic coupling unification up to the Planck scale. Most remarkably, we show that the MS-2HDM is a very predictive extension of the SM governed by two onl…
In multi-Higgs-doublet models the alignment in flavour space of the relevant Yukawa matrices guarantees the absence of tree-level flavour-changing couplings of the neutral scalar fields. We analyze the consequences of this condition within the two-Higgs-doublet model and show that it leads to a generic Yukawa structure which contains as particular cases all known specific implementations of the model based on Z_2 symmetries. All possible freedom in the Yukawa sector gets parametrized in terms of three complex couplings. In spite of having flavour conservation in the neutral scalar couplings, t…
We perform a systematic study of generic accidental Higgs-family and CP symmetries that could occur in the two-Higgs-doublet-model potential, based on a Majorana scalar-field formalism which realizes a subgroup of GL(8,C). We derive the general conditions of convexity and stability of the scalar potential and present analytical solutions for two non-zero neutral vacuum expectation values of the Higgs doublets for a typical set of six symmetries, in terms of the gauge-invariant parameters of the theory. By means of a homotopy-group analysis, we identify the topological defects associated with t…
We use the invariance of physical picture under a change of Lagrangian, the reparametrization invariance in the space of Lagrangians and its particular case -- the rephrasing invariance, for analysis of the two-Higgs-doublet extension of the SM. We found that some parameters of theory like tan beta are reparametrization dependent and therefore cannot be fundamental. We use the Z2-symmetry of the Lagrangian, which prevents a phi_1 <-> phi_2 transitions, and the different levels of its violation, soft and hard, to describe a physical content of the model. In general, the broken Z2-symmetry allow…
We present new variants of the Two Higgs-Doublet Model where all Yukawa couplings with physical Higgs bosons are controlled by the quark mixing matrices of both chiralities, as well as, in one case, the ratio between the two scalar doublets' vacuum expectation values. We obtain these by imposing approximate symmetries on the Lagrangian which, in one of the cases, clearly reveals the model to be the electroweak remnant of the Minimal Left-Right Symmetric Model. We also argue for the benefits of the bidoublet notation in the Two Higgs-Doublet Model context for uncovering new models.
The tree-level flavour-changing neutral currents in the two-Higgs-doublet models can be suppressed by protecting the breaking of either flavour or flavour-blind symmetries, but only the first choice, implemented by the application of the Minimal Flavour Violation hypothesis, is stable under quantum corrections. Moreover, a two-Higgs-doublet model with Minimal Flavour Violation enriched with flavour-blind phases can explain the anomalies recently found in the Delta F = 2 transitions, namely the large CP-violating phase in B_s mixing and the tension between epsilon_K and S_ψ_K.
We argue that the consistent implementation of the multiple point principle (MPP) in the general non-supersymmetric two Higgs doublet model (2HDM) can lead to a set of approximate global custodial symmetries that ensure CP conservation in the Higgs sector and the absence of flavour changing neutral currents (FCNC) in the considered model. In particular the existence of a large set of degenerate vacua at some high energy scale $Λ$ caused by the MPP can result in approximate U(1) and Z(2) symmetries that suppress FCNC and CP--violating interactions in the 2HDM. We explore the renormalisation gro…
N-Higgs doublet models (NHDM) are a popular framework to construct electroweak symmetry breaking mechanisms beyond the Standard model. Usually, one builds an NHDM scalar sector which is invariant under a certain symmetry group. Although several such groups have been used, no general analysis of symmetries possible in the NHDM scalar sector exists. Here, we make the first step towards this goal by classifying the elementary building blocks, namely the abelian symmetry groups, with a special emphasis on finite groups. We describe a strategy that identifies all abelian groups which are realizable…
The complex singlet-doublet model is a popular theory to account for dark matter and electroweak baryogenesis, wherein the Standard Model particle content is supplemented by a complex scalar gauge singlet, with certain discrete symmetries imposed. The scalar potential which results thereof can have seven different types of minima at tree-level, which may coexist for specific choices of parameters. There is therefore the possibility that a given minimum is not global but rather a local one, and may tunnel to a deeper extremum, thus causing vacuum instability. This rich vacuum structure is expla…
We study Two-Higgs-Doublet Models (2HDM) where Abelian symmetries have been introduced, leading to a drastic reduction in the number of free parameters in the 2HDM. Our analysis is inspired in BGL models, where, as the result of a symmetry of the Lagrangian, there are tree-level scalar mediated Flavour-Changing-Neutral-Currents, with the flavour structure depending only on the CKM matrix. A systematic analysis is done on the various possible schemes, which are classified in different classes, depending on the way the extra symmetries constrain the matrices of couplings defining the flavour str…
We present a novel way of realizing the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson mechanism at all orders in perturbation theory, for the doublet-triplet splitting in supersymmetric grand unified theories. The global symmetries of the Higgs sector are attributed to a non-vectorlike Higgs content, which is consistent with unbroken supersymmetry in a scenario with flat extra dimensions and branes. We also show how in such a model one can naturally obtain a realistic pattern for the Standard Model fermion masses and mixings.
We continue our analysis of the general N-Higgs-doublet model and focus of the Higgs potential description in the space of gauge orbits. We develop a geometric technique that allows us to study the global minimum of the potential without explicitly finding its position. We discuss symmetry patterns of the NHDM potential, and illustrate the general discussion with various specific variants of the three-Higgs-doublet model.
The implementation of maximally restrictive texture zeros in the leptonic sector is investigated in the context of two-Higgs-doublet models with Majorana neutrinos. After analyzing all maximally restrictive pairs of leptonic mass matrices with zero entries, we conclude that there are only four texture combinations that are compatible with observations at 3 sigma confidence level and can be implemented through Abelian symmetries in a two-Higgs-doublet model. The compatibility of these textures with current constraints on lepton-flavor-violating processes is also studied. The ultraviolet complet…
The minimal supersymmetric standard model involves a rather restrictive Higgs potential with two Higgs fields. Recently, the full set of classes of symmetries allowed in the most general two Higgs doublet model was identified; these classes do not include the supersymmetric limit as a particular class. Thus, a physically meaningful definition of the supersymmetric limit must involve the interaction of the Higgs sector with other sectors of the theory. Here we show how one can construct basis invariant probes of supersymmetry involving both the Higgs sector and the gaugino-higgsino Higgs intera…
We describe a mechanism for using discrete symmetries to solve the doublet-triplet splitting problem of four-dimensional supersymmetric GUT's. We present two versions of the mechanism, one via ``deconstruction,'' and one in terms of M-theory compactification to four dimensions on a manifold of G_2 holonomy.
Higgs doublets may come in three generations. The scalar sector of the resulting three-Higgs-doublet model (3HDM) may be constrained by global symmetry groups $G$ leading to characteristic phenomenology. There exists the full list of symmetry groups $G$ realizable in the 3HDM scalar sector and the expressions for $G$-symmetric scalar potentials written in special bases where the generators of $G$ take simple form. However recognizing the presence of a symmetry in a generic basis remains a major technical challenge, which impedes efficient exploration of the 3HDM parameter space. In this paper,…
