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SUMMARY:Is Our Universe Metastable\, Stable\, Critical ... ? - Enzo Branch
 ina (Catania U. &amp\; INFN)
DTSTART:20150529T150000Z
DTEND:20150529T160000Z
UID:TALK59178@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Damien George
DESCRIPTION:The stability condition of the electroweak (EW) vacuum\, clear
 ly connected with the stability of the universe as a whole\, has been inve
 stigated for decades. Within the usual analysis\, and for the present expe
 rimental values of M_H and M_t (the Higgs boson and top quark masses)\, th
 e EW vacuum (and then our universe) turns out to be metastable and very lo
 ng lived\, with a lifetime much larger than the age of the universe itself
 . The usual analysis\, however\, misses an important effect. It was previo
 usly thought that if New Physics lives at very high energy scales\, its pr
 esence cannot affect the stability condition. Contrary to this expectation
 \, it has been recently shown that the stability condition of the EW vacuu
 m crucially depends on the presence of New Physics at very high scales. In
  this talk I will show why previous analyses failed in finding this effect
  and I will present the consequences of these results on model building\nb
 eyond the Standard Model. Moreover\, I will show that\, despite claims to 
 the contrary\, more precise determinations of the top and Higgs masses wil
 l not allow to decide whether our universe lives in a metastable or in a s
 table state. The Higgs inflation scenario and the so called "Higgs Critica
 lity" will also be discussed in the light of these results.
LOCATION:MR19 (Potter Room\, Pavilion B)\, CMS
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