Higgs mass and vacuum stability in the Standard Model at NNLO

Abstract

A bstract We present the first complete next-to-next-to-leading order analysis of the Standard Model Higgs potential. We computed the two-loop QCD and Yukawa corrections to the relation between the Higgs quartic coupling ( λ ) and the Higgs mass ( M h ), reducing the theoretical uncertainty in the determination of the critical value of M h for vacuum stability to 1 GeV. While λ at the Planck scale is remarkably close to zero, absolute stability of the Higgs potential is excluded at 98 % C.L. for M h < 126 GeV. Possible consequences of the near vanishing of λ at the Planck scale, including speculations about the role of the Higgs field during inflation, are discussed.