Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Fate of the scalar quartic couplings in the inert models

Priyotosh Bandyopadhyay* and Pram Milan P. Robin†

  • *Contact author: bpriyo@phy.iith.ac.in
  • †Contact author: ph22resch01001@iith.ac.in

Phys. Rev. D 112, 015013 – Published 15 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/pmv7-cbqz

Abstract

In this article we consider three inert models, namely the Inert Singlet Model (ISM), Inert Triplet Model (ITM), and Inert Doublet Model (IDM) as beyond Standard Model scenarios, and look into the running of the scalar quartic couplings at one- and two-loop levels. Interestingly, the Landau poles at one-loop and Fixed Points at two-loop have been observed for these scenarios, very similar to the ϕ4 theory, which is absent in the Standard Model. The role of Higgs portal couplings in attaining these features has been examined. For inert singlet and triplet models, the portal couplings give rise to terms without any residual phases, enhancing this Fixed Point behavior. In the case of the Inert Doublet Model, λ4,5 terms which have the residual phases, spoil this behavior. Finally, we consider perturbative unitarity constraints to put limits on the scalar quartic couplings for various perturbativity scales in both one- and two-loop. Larger portal couplings, i.e., ≳2, get strong perturbative bounds as low as 102−3  GeV. Uncertainties of the Fixed Points, and phenomenological aspects of such scenarios are also briefed.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (102)

  1. G. Aad et al. (ATLAS Collaboration), Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, Phys. Lett. B 716, 1 (2012).
  2. S. Chatrchyan et al. (CMS Collaboration), Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC, Phys. Lett. B 716, 30 (2012).
  3. G. Isidori, G. Ridolfi, and A. Strumia, On the metastability of the Standard Model vacuum, Nucl. Phys. B609, 387 (2001).
  4. F. Bezrukov, M. Y. Kalmykov, B. A. Kniehl, and M. Shaposhnikov, Higgs boson mass and new physics, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2012) 140.
  5. G. Degrassi, S. Di Vita, J. Elias-Miro, J. R. Espinosa, G. F. Giudice, G. Isidori, and A. Strumia, Higgs mass and vacuum stability in the Standard Model at NNLO, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2012) 098.
  6. D. Buttazzo, G. Degrassi, P. P. Giardino, G. F. Giudice, F. Sala, A. Salvio, and A. Strumia, Investigating the near-criticality of the Higgs boson, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2013) 089.
  7. F. Csikor, Z. Fodor, and J. Heitger, End point of the hot electroweak phase transition, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 21 (1999).
  8. K. Rummukainen, M. Tsypin, K. Kajantie, M. Laine, and M. E. Shaposhnikov, The universality class of the electroweak theory, Nucl. Phys. B532, 283 (1998).
  9. K. Kajantie, M. Laine, K. Rummukainen, and M. E. Shaposhnikov, Is there a hot electroweak phase transition at mH≳mW?, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 2887 (1996).
  10. M. Gonderinger, Y. Li, H. Patel, and M. J. Ramsey-Musolf, Vacuum stability, perturbativity, and scalar singlet dark matter, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2010) 053.
  11. M. Gonderinger, H. Lim, and M. J. Ramsey-Musolf, Complex scalar singlet dark matter: Vacuum stability and phenomenology, Phys. Rev. D 86, 043511 (2012).
  12. O. Lebedev, On stability of the electroweak vacuum and the Higgs portal, Eur. Phys. J. C 72, 2058 (2012).
  13. J. Elias-Miro, J. R. Espinosa, G. F. Giudice, H. M. Lee, and A. Strumia, Stabilization of the electroweak vacuum by a scalar threshold effect, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2012) 031.
  14. P. Athron, J. M. Cornell, F. Kahlhoefer, J. Mckay, P. Scott, and S. Wild, Impact of vacuum stability, perturbativity and XENON1T on global fits of Z2 and Z3 scalar singlet dark matter, Eur. Phys. J. C 78, 830 (2018).
  15. V. Barger, P. Langacker, M. McCaskey, M. Ramsey-Musolf, and G. Shaughnessy, Complex singlet extension of the Standard Model, Phys. Rev. D 79, 015018 (2009).
  16. P. Borah and P. Ghosh, Unveiling the inert triplet desert region with a pNGB dark matter and its gravitational wave signatures, arXiv:2505.16521.
  17. M. Gonçalves, M. Mühlleitner, R. Santos, and T. Trindade, Dark matter in multi-singlet extensions of the Standard Model, arXiv:2505.07753.
  18. G. C. Branco, P. M. Ferreira, L. Lavoura, M. N. Rebelo, M. Sher, and J. P. Silva, Theory and phenomenology of two-Higgs-doublet models, Phys. Rep. 516, 1 (2012).
  19. P. M. Ferreira, R. Santos, and A. Barroso, Stability of the tree-level vacuum in two Higgs doublet models against charge or CP spontaneous violation, Phys. Lett. B 603, 219 (2004); 629, 114(E) (2005).
  20. M. Maniatis, A. von Manteuffel, O. Nachtmann, and F. Nagel, Stability and symmetry breaking in the general two-Higgs-doublet model, Eur. Phys. J. C 48, 805 (2006).
  21. S. Kanemura and Y. Mura, Criterion of perturbativity with the mass-dependent beta function in extended Higgs models, Phys. Rev. D 110, 075016 (2024).
  22. B. Świeżewska, Yukawa independent constraints for two-Higgs-doublet models with a 125 GeV Higgs boson, Phys. Rev. D 88, 055027 (2013); 88, 119903(E) (2013).
  23. P. M. Ferreira and B. Swiezewska, One-loop contributions to neutral minima in the Inert Doublet Model, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2016) 099.
  24. B. Swiezewska and M. Krawczyk, Diphoton rate in the Inert Doublet Model with a 125 GeV Higgs boson, Phys. Rev. D 88, 035019 (2013).
  25. N. Chakrabarty, R. Roshan, and A. Sil, Two-component doublet-triplet scalar dark matter stabilizing the electroweak vacuum, Phys. Rev. D 105, 115010 (2022).
  26. S. Melara-Duron, R. Gaitán, and J. M. Lamprea, Two dark matter candidates in a doublet-triplet Higgs model, Eur. Phys. J. Plus 140, 154 (2025).
  27. M. Krawczyk, D. Sokolowska, P. Swaczyna, and B. Swiezewska, Constraining inert dark matter by Rvv and WMAP data, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2013) 055.
  28. L. L. Honorez, E. Nezri, J. F. Oliver, and M. H. G. Tytgat, The Inert Doublet Model: An archetype for dark matter, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 02 (2007) 028.
  29. N. Khan and S. Rakshit, Constraints on inert dark matter from the metastability of the electroweak vacuum, Phys. Rev. D 92, 055006 (2015).
  30. X. J. Xu, Tree-level vacuum stability of two-Higgs-doublet models and new constraints on the scalar potential, Phys. Rev. D 95, 115019 (2017).
  31. K. Kannike, Vacuum stability of a general scalar potential of a few fields, Eur. Phys. J. C 76, 324 (2016); 78, 355(E) (2018).
  32. S. Jangid and P. Bandyopadhyay, Distinguishing inert Higgs doublet and inert triplet scenarios, Eur. Phys. J. C 80, 715 (2020).
  33. P. Bandyopadhyay, M. Frank, S. Parashar, and C. Sen, Interplay of inert doublet and vector-like lepton triplet with displaced vertices at the LHC/FCC and MATHUSLA, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2024) 109.
  34. Nico Benincasa, Luigi Delle Rose, Kristen Kannike, and Luca Marzola, Multi-step phase transitions and gravitational waves in the Inert Doublet Model, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 12 (2022) 025.
  35. P. Bandyopadhyay and R. Mandal, Vacuum stability in an extended Standard Model with a leptoquark, Phys. Rev. D 95, 035007 (2017).
  36. J. Braathen, M. Gabelmann, T. Robens, and P. Stylianou, Probing the Inert Doublet Model via vector-boson fusion at a muon collider, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2025) 055.
  37. S. Banerjee, F. Boudjema, N. Chakrabarty, G. Chalons, and H. Sun, Relic density of dark matter in the Inert Doublet Model beyond leading order: The heavy mass case, Phys. Rev. D 100, 095024 (2019).
  38. S. Yaser Ayazi and S. M. Firouzabadi, Footprint of triplet scalar dark matter in direct indirect search and invisible Higgs decay, Cogent Phys. 2, 1047559 (2015).
  39. N. Khan, Exploring the hyperchargeless Higgs triplet model up to the Planck scale, Eur. Phys. J. C 78, 341 (2018).
  40. P. Das, M. K. Das, and N. Khan, FIMP DM in the extended hyperchargeless Higgs triplet model, Phys. Rev. D 104, 095026 (2021).
  41. P. Bandyopadhyay, S. Parashar, C. Sen, and J. Song, Probing Inert Triplet Model at a multi-TeV muon collider via vector boson fusion with forward muon tagging, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2024) 253.
  42. P. Bandyopadhyay and A. Costantini, Obscure Higgs boson at colliders, Phys. Rev. D 103, 015025 (2021).
  43. C. W. Chiang, G. Cottin, Y. Du, K. Fuyuto, and M. J. Ramsey-Musolf, Collider probes of real triplet scalar dark matter, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2021) 198.
  44. N. Chakrabarty, D. K. Ghosh, B. Mukhopadhyaya, and I. Saha, Dark matter, neutrino masses, and high scale validity of an inert Higgs doublet model, Phys. Rev. D 92, 015002 (2015).
  45. B. Swiezewska, Inert scalars and vacuum metastability around the electroweak scale, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2015) 118.
  46. P. Bandyopadhyay, P. S. B. Dev, S. Jangid, and A. Kumar, Vacuum stability in inert Higgs doublet model with right-handed neutrinos, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2020) 154.
  47. P. Bandyopadhyay and S. Jangid, Discerning singlet and triplet scalars at the electroweak phase transition and gravitational wave, Phys. Rev. D 107, 055032 (2023).
  48. P. Bandyopadhyay and S. Jangid, Scrutinizing vacuum stability in IDM with type-III inverse Seesaw, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2021) 075.
  49. D. Eriksson, J. Rathsman, and O. Stal, 2HDMC: Two-Higgs-doublet model calculator physics and manual, Comput. Phys. Commun. 181, 189 (2010).
  50. C. Grojean, G. Servant, and J. D. Wells, First-order electroweak phase transition in the Standard Model with a low cutoff, Phys. Rev. D 71, 036001 (2005).
  51. A. Ahriche, What is the criterion for a strong first-order electroweak phase transition in singlet models?, Phys. Rev. D 75, 083522 (2007).
  52. J. R. Espinosa, T. Konstandin, and F. Riva, Strong electroweak phase transitions in the Standard Model with a singlet, Nucl. Phys. B854, 592 (2012).
  53. M. D. Astros, S. Fabian, and F. Goertz, Minimal inert doublet benchmark for dark matter and the baryon asymmetry, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 02 (2024) 052.
  54. S. AbdusSalam, M. J. Kazemi, and L. Kalhor, Upper limit on first-order electroweak phase transition strength, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 36, 2150024 (2021).
  55. D. Borah and J. M. Cline, Inert doublet dark matter with strong electroweak phase transition, Phys. Rev. D 86, 055001 (2012).
  56. G. Gil, P. Chankowski, and M. Krawczyk, Inert dark matter and strong electroweak phase transition, Phys. Lett. B 717, 396 (2012).
  57. J. M. Cline and K. Kainulainen, Improved electroweak phase transition with subdominant inert doublet dark matter, Phys. Rev. D 87, 071701(R) (2013).
  58. S. S. AbdusSalam and T. A. Chowdhury, Scalar representations in the light of electroweak phase transition and cold dark matter phenomenology, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 05 (2014) 026.
  59. S. S. AbdusSalam and M. J. Kazemi, Electroweak phase transition in an inert complex triplet mode, Phys. Rev. D 103, 075012 (2021).
  60. P. Bandyopadhyay, S. Jangid, and A. Karan, Constraining scalar doublet and triplet leptoquarks with vacuum stability and perturbativity, Eur. Phys. J. C 82, 516 (2022).
  61. Y. Hamada, K. Kawana, and K. Tsumura, Landau pole in the Standard Model with weakly interacting scalar fields, Phys. Lett. B 747, 238 (2015).
  62. A. D. Bond, G. Hiller, K. Kowalska, and D. F. Litim, Directions for model building from asymptotic safety, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2017) 004.
  63. S. Heinemeyer, M. Mondragón, N. Tracas, and G. Zoupanos, Reduction of couplings and its application in particle physics, Phys. Rep. 814, 1 (2019).
  64. M. A. May Pech, M. Mondragón, G. Patellis, and G. Zoupanos, Reduction of couplings in the Type-II 2HDM, Eur. J. Phys. 83, 1129 (2023).
  65. R. Shrock, Study of the six-loop beta function of the λφ44 theory, Phys. Rev. D 94, 125026 (2016).
  66. R. Shrock, Search for an ultraviolet zero in the seven-loop beta function of the λϕ44 theory, Phys. Rev. D 107, 056018 (2023).
  67. M. Lüscher and P. Weisz, Scaling laws and triviality bounds in the lattice ϕ4 theory: (I). One-component model in the symmetric phase, Nucl. Phys. B290, 25 (1987).
  68. Oliver J. Rosten, Triviality from the exact renormalization group, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2009) 019.
  69. M. Sher, Electroweak Higgs potential and vacuum stability., Phys. Rep. 179, 273 (1989).
  70. A. M. Coutinho, A. Karan, V. Mirallesand A. Pich, Light scalars within the -conserving Aligned-two-Higgs-doublet model, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2025) 057.
  71. H. Bahl, M. Carena, N. M. Coyle, A. Ireland, and C. E. M. Wagner, New tools for dissecting the general 2HDM, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2023) 165.
  72. B. Q. Lu and D. Huang, Unitarity bounds on extensions of Higgs sector, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2023) 209.
  73. Heather E. Logan, Lectures on perturbative unitarity and decoupling in Higgs physics, arXiv:2207.01064.
  74. I. F. Ginzburg and I. P. Ivanov, Tree-level unitarity constraints in the most general two Higgs doublet model, Phys. Rev. D 72, 115010 (2005).
  75. M. V. Kompaniets and E. Panzer, Minimally subtracted six-loop renormalization of O(n)-symmetric ϕ4 theory and critical exponents, Phys. Rev. D 96, 036016 (2017).
  76. Claudio Coriano, Luigi Delle Rose, and Carlo Marzo, Vacuum stability in U(1)′-extensions of the Standard Model with TeV scale right handed neutrinos, Phys. Lett. B 738, 13 (2014).
  77. Claudio Coriano, Luigi Delle Rose, and Carlo Marzo, Constraints on Abelian extensions of the Standard Model from two-loop vacuum stability and U(1)B−L, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2016) 135.
  78. F. Staub, sarah 4: A tool for (not only SUSY) model builders, Comput. Phys. Commun. 185, 1773 (2014).
  79. T. Katayose, S. Matsumoto, S. Shirai, and Y. Watanabe, Thermal real scalar triplet dark matter, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2021) 044.
  80. G. Aad et al. (ATLAS Collaboration), Measurement of the Higgs boson mass with H−>γγ decays in 140 fb−1 of s=13  TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector, Phys. Lett. B 847, 138315 (2023).
  81. S. Navas et al. (Particle Data Group), Review of particle physics, Phys. Rev. D 110, 030001 (2024).
  82. P. Bandyopadhyay and S. Parashar, Dark clouds to silver linings over the hyperchargeless scalar triplets, arXiv:2505.23257.
  83. T. Biekötter, S. Heinemeyer, J. M. No, K. Radchenko, M. O. O. Romacho, and G. Weiglein, First shot of the smoking gun: Probing the electroweak phase transition in the 2HDM with novel searches for A−>ZH in ℓ+ℓ−tt¯ and ννbb¯, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2024) 107.
  84. J. Aalbers et al. (LZ Collaboration), Dark matter search results from 4.2 tonne-years of exposure of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, arXiv:2410.17036.
  85. A. Datta, N. Ganguly, N. Khan, and S. Rakshit, Exploring collider signatures of the inert Higgs doublet model, Phys. Rev. D 95, 015017 (2017).
  86. P. Bandyopadhyay, E. J. Chun, and R. Mandal, Scalar dark matter in leptophilic two-Higgs-doublet model, Phys. Lett. B 779, 201 (2018).
  87. P. Bandyopadhyay, E. J. Chun, and R. Mandal, Phenomenology of Higgs bosons in inverse seesaw model with type-X two Higgs doublet at the LHC, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2019) 169.
  88. P. Bandyopadhyay, K. Huitu, and A. Sabanci Keceli, Multi-lepton signatures of the triplet like charged Higgs at the LHC, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2015) 026.
  89. P. Bandyopadhyay, C. Coriano, and A. Costantini, Probing the hidden Higgs bosons of the Y=0 triplet- and singlet-extended supersymmetric Standard Model at the LHC, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2015) 127.
  90. P. Bandyopadhyay, C. Corianò, and A. Costantini, General analysis of the charged Higgs sector of the Y=0 triplet-singlet extension of the MSSM at the LHC, Phys. Rev. D 94, 055030 (2016).
  91. P. J. Fox, R. Harnik, J. Kopp, and Y. Tsai, Missing energy signatures of dark matter at the LHC, Phys. Rev. D 85, 056011 (2012).
  92. G. G. da Silveira and M. S. Mateus, Investigation of scalar and fermion dark matter in mono-photon production at high-energy colliders, Eur. Phys. J. C 84, 181 (2024).
  93. S. Schramm (ATLAS Collaboration), ATLAS sensitivity to WIMP dark matter in the monojet topology at s=TeV, Nucl. Part. Phys. Proc. 273–275, 2397 (2016).
  94. S. Chatrchyan et al. (CMS Collaboration), Search for new physics with a monojet and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at s=7  Tev, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 201804 (2011).
  95. P. Bandyopadhyay and S. Parashar, Probing a scalar singlet-triplet extension of the Standard Model via vector boson fusion at a muon collider, Phys. Rev. D 110, 115032 (2024).
  96. A. Hayrapetyan et al. (CMS Collaboration), Search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson to a pair of pseudoscalars in the μμbb and ττbb final states, Eur. Phys. J. C 84, 493 (2024).
  97. V. Khachatryan et al. (CMS Collaboration), Search for resonant pair production of Higgs bosons decaying to two bottom quark–antiquark pairs in proton–proton collisions at 8 TeV, Phys. Lett. B 749, 560 (2015).
  98. A. Hayrapetyan et al. (CMS Collaboration), Constraints on the Higgs boson self-coupling from the combination of single and double Higgs boson production in proton-proton collisions at s=13 TeV, Phys. Lett. B 861, 139210 (2025).
  99. G. Aad et al. (ATLAS Collaboration), Search for pair production of boosted Higgs bosons via vector-boson fusion in the bb¯bb¯ final state using pp collisions at s−13 TeV with the ATLAS detector, Phys. Lett. B 858, 139007 (2024).
  100. G. Aad et al. (ATLAS Collaboration), Search for triple Higgs boson production in the 6b final state using pp collisions at s=13  TeV with the ATLAS detector, Phys. Rev. D 111, 032006 (2025).
  101. G. Aad et al. (ATLAS Collaboration), Search for a resonance decaying into a scalar particle and a Higgs boson in the final state with two bottom quarks and two photons in proton–proton collisions at s=13  TeV with the ATLAS detector, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2024) 047.
  102. G. Aad et al. (ATLAS Collaboration), Combination of searches for resonant Higgs boson pair production using pp collisions at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 231801 (2024).

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation