Thermally modified sterile neutrino portal dark matter and gravitational waves from phase transition: The Freeze-in case

We consider the thermal effects into the evaluation of the dark matter production process. With the assistance of the right handed neutrinos, the freeze-in massive particle dark matter production history can be modified by the two-step phase transitions. The kinematic of decay/inverse decay or annihilation processes can be affected by the finite temperature effects as the Universe cools down. The history of the symmetry respected by the model can be revealed by the DM relic abundance evolution processes. The strong first order electroweak phase transition generated gravitational waves can be probed. The number of extra scalars for the Hierarchy problem can be probed through the Higgs off-shell searches at the LHC.Comment: 32 pages, 10 figures, comments welcom

Prospects for Triple Gauge Coupling Measurements at Future Lepton Colliders and the 14 TeV LHC

The $WW$ production is the primary channel to directly probe the triple gauge couplings. We first analyze the $e^+ e^- \rightarrow W^+ W^-$ process at the future lepton collider, China's proposed Circular Electron-Positron Collider (CEPC). We use the five kinematical angles in this process to constrain the anomalous triple gauge couplings and relevant dimension six operators at the CEPC up to the order of magnitude of $10^{-4}$. The most sensible information is obtained from the distributions of the production scattering angle and the decay azimuthal angles. We also estimate constraints at the 14 TeV LHC, with both 300 fb$^{-1}$ and 3000 fb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity from the leading lepton $p_T$ and azimuthal angle difference $\Delta \phi_{ll}$ distributions in the di-lepton channel. The constrain is somewhat weaker, up to the order of magnitude of $10^{-3}$. The limits on the triple gauge couplings are complementary to those on the electroweak precision observables and Higgs couplings. Our results show that the gap between sensitivities of the electroweak and triple gauge boson precision can be significantly decreased to less than one order of magnitude at the 14 TeV LHC, and that both the two sensitivities can be further improved at the CEPC.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figures, 8 tables, version to appear in JHE

CP violation effects in the diphoton spectrum of heavy scalars

In a class of new physics models, an extended Higgs sector and new CP-violating sources are simultaneously present in order to explain the baryon asymmetry in the Universe. The aim of this work is to study the implications of beyond the Standard Model (SM) CP violation for the searches of heavy scalars at the LHC. In particular, we focus on the diphoton channel searches in the CP-violating two-Higgs-doublet model (CPV 2HDM). To have a sizable CPV in the scalar sector, the two heavy neutral scalars in 2HDM tend to be nearly degenerate. The theoretical constraints of unitarity, perturbativity and vacuum stability are considered, which requires that the heavy scalars $M_H \lesssim 1$ TeV in a large region of the parameter space. The experimental limits are also taken into account, including the direct searches of heavy neutral scalars in the final state of the SM $h$, $W$ and $Z$ bosons, the differential $t\bar{t}$ data, those from the charged scalar sector which is implied by the oblique $T$ parameter, as well as the precise measurements of the electric dipole moments of electron and mercury. The quantum interference effects between the resonances and the SM background are crucially important for the diphoton signals, and the CPV mixing of the quasi-degenerate heavy scalars could enhance significantly the resonance peak. With an integrated luminosity of 3000 fb$^{-1}$ at the LHC, almost the whole parameter space of CPV 2HDM could be probed in the diphoton channel, and the CPV could also be directly detected via the diphoton spectrum.Comment: 32 pages (two columns), 20 figures, 1 table, minor changes, version to appear in PR

A new insight into the phase transition in the early Universe with two Higgs doublets

We study the electroweak phase transition in the alignment limit of the CP-conserving two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM) of Type I and Type II. The effective potential is evaluated at one-loop, where the thermal potential includes Daisy corrections and is reliably approximated by means of a sum of Bessel functions. Both 1-stage and 2-stage electroweak phase transitions are shown to be possible, depending on the pattern of the vacuum development as the Universe cools down. For the 1-stage case focused on in this paper, we analyze the properties of phase transition and discover that the field value of the electroweak symmetry breaking vacuum at the critical temperature at which the first order phase transition occurs is largely correlated with the vacuum depth of the 1-loop potential at zero temperature. We demonstrate that a strong first order electroweak phase transition (SFOEWPT) in the 2HDM is achievable and establish benchmark scenarios leading to different testable signatures at colliders. In addition, we verify that an enhanced triple Higgs coupling (including loop corrections) is a typical feature of the SFOPT driven by the additional doublet. As a result, SFOEWPT might be able to be probed at the LHC and future lepton colliders through Higgs pair production.Comment: 43 pages, 18 figures, minor revision and match to the published versio