Weak scale triggers in the SMEFT
A bstract There are no weak scale triggers in the SMEFT up to dimension six that can solve the hierarchy problem far above the weak scale. Our arguments can be used to show that the same is true at dimension eight. Weak scale triggers are local operators sensitive to the Higgs mass squared and they are needed in a large number of qualitatively different cosmological solutions to the hierarchy problem. These solutions have little in common besides the use of a trigger operator. We argue that focusing on the signatures of the three already-known trigger operators can lead to discover or exclude this class of solutions to the hierarchy problem.
Authors
- Raffaele Tito D’Agnolo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8271-6840)
- Pablo Sesma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9035-3322)
- Pier Giuseppe Catinari
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Institute for High Energy Physics (ES)
- Université Paris Cité (FR)
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- École Normale Supérieure - PSL (FR)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- École Normale Supérieure (BI)
- CEA Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma I (IT)
- Institut de Physique Théorique (FR)
- Institute of Science and Technology
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of High Energy Physics
- Published
- 2026-04-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep04(2026)148
- Primary Topic
- Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
- European Regional Development Fund
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara