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  • Open Access

Catalog of electroweak scalar manifolds

Juan Carlos Criado

  • Departamento de Física Teórica y del Cosmos, Universidad de Granada, Campus de Fuentenueva, E–18071 Granada, Spain

Phys. Rev. D 114, 013001 – Published 1 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/d1mq-k2kb

Abstract

The local structure of the Higgs sector around the vacuum does not uniquely determine its global properties. Most of the current experimental data provide only local information, which allows for a rich variety of global features, including several distinct topologies of the scalar manifold, and the existence of zero, one, or two fixed points of the symmetry transformations. Here, I provide, under general conditions, a complete classification of realizations of the electroweak symmetry with minimal field content—the three would-be Goldstone bosons and the Higgs—and outline some of their physical consequences.

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