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A bstract We describe a Python-based computer program, DEFT, for manipulating operators in effective field theories (EFTs). In its current incarnation, DEFT can be applied to 4-dimensional, Poincaré invariant theories with gauge group SU(3) × SU(2) × U(1), such as the Standard Model (SM), but a variety of extensions (e.g. to lower dimensions or to an arbitrary product of unitary gauge groups) are possible. Amongst other features, the program is able to: (i) check whether an input list of Lagrangian operators (of a given dimension in the EFT expansion) is a basis for the space of operators contributing to S-matrix elements, once redundancies (such as Fierz-Pauli identities, integration by parts, and equations of motion) are taken into account; (ii) generate such a basis (where possible) from an input algorithm; (iii) carry out a change of basis. We describe applications to the SM (where we carry out a number of non-trivial cross-checks) and extensions thereof, and outline how the program may be of use in precision tests of the SM and in the ongoing search for new physics at the LHC and elsewhere. The code and instructions can be downloaded from http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~dwsuth/DEFT/ .

A bstract There are two canonical approaches to treating the Standard Model as an Effective Field Theory (EFT): Standard Model EFT (SMEFT), expressed in the electroweak symmetric phase utilizing the Higgs doublet, and Higgs EFT (HEFT), expressed in the broken phase utilizing the physical Higgs boson and an independent set of Goldstone bosons. HEFT encompasses SMEFT, so understanding whether SMEFT is sufficient motivates identifying UV theories that require HEFT as their low energy limit. This distinction is complicated by field redefinitions that obscure the naive differences between the two EFTs. By reformulating the question in a geometric language, we derive concrete criteria that can be used to distinguish SMEFT from HEFT independent of the chosen field basis. We highlight two cases where perturbative new physics must be matched onto HEFT: ( i ) the new particles derive all of their mass from electroweak symmetry breaking, and ( ii ) there are additional sources of electroweak symmetry breaking. Additionally, HEFT has a broader practical application: it can provide a more convergent parametrization when new physics lies near the weak scale. The ubiquity of models requiring HEFT suggests that SMEFT is not enough.

A bstract We consider a class of BSM models where a generic scalar electroweak multiplet obtains a significant fraction of its mass from a coupling to the Higgs. Such models are non-decoupling: their new states are necessarily at the TeV scale or below, they can significantly alter the electroweak phase transition, and they have a pattern of low energy effects that are distinct from those predicted by SMEFT. Using their minimal gauge and Higgs couplings, we show that a future precision lepton collider (such as FCC-ee, CEPC, ILC, or CLIC) can probe all the non-decoupling parameter space of scalar electroweak multiplets, providing fundamental information on the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking.

A bstract We derive the scale of unitarity violation from the geometry of Effective Field Theory (EFT) extensions of the Standard Model Higgs sector. The high-energy behavior of amplitudes with more than four scalar legs depends on derivatives of geometric invariants with respect to the physical Higgs field h , such that higher-point amplitudes begin to reconstruct the scalar manifold away from our vacuum. In theories whose low-energy limit can be described by the Higgs EFT (HEFT) but not the Standard Model EFT (SMEFT), non-analyticities in the vicinity of our vacuum limit the radius of convergence of geometric invariants, leading to unitarity violation at energies below 4 πv . Our results unify approaches to the HEFT/SMEFT dichotomy based on unitarity, analyticity, and geometry, and more broadly illustrate the sense in which observables probe the geometry of an EFT. Along the way, we provide novel basis-independent results for Goldstone/Higgs boson scattering amplitudes expressed in terms of geometric covariant quantities.

A bstract We derive an off-shell recursion relation for correlators that holds at all loop orders. This allows us to prove how generalized amplitudes transform under generic field redefinitions, starting from an assumed behavior of the one-particle-irreducible effective action. The form of the recursion relation resembles the operation of raising the rank of a tensor by acting with a covariant derivative. This inspires a geometric interpretation, whose features and flaws we investigate.

A bstract We initiate the study of a new class of beyond the Standard Model states that we call “Loryons.” They have the defining characteristic of being non-decoupling, in the sense that their physical mass is dominated by a contribution from the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs boson. The stakes are high: the discovery of a Loryon would tell us that electroweak symmetry must be non-linearly realized in the effective field theory of the Standard Model. Loryons have their masses bounded from above by perturbative unitarity considerations and thus define a finite parameter space for exploration. After providing a complete catalog of Loryon representations under mild assumptions, we turn to examining the constraints on the parameter space from Higgs couplings measurements, precision electroweak tests, and direct collider searches. We show that most fermionic candidates are already ruled out (with some notable exceptions), while much of the scalar Loryon parameter space is still wide open for discovery.

A bstract A powerful aspect of effective field theories is connecting scales through renormalisation group (RG) flow. The anomalous dimension matrix of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) encodes clues to where to find relics of heavy new physics in data, but its unwieldy 2499 × 2499 size (at operator dimension 6) makes it difficult to draw general conclusions. In this paper, we study the flavour structure of the SMEFT one loop anomalous dimension matrix of dimension 6 current-current operators, a 1460 × 1460 submatrix. We take an on-shell approach, laying bare simple patterns by factorising the entries of the matrix into their gauge, kinematic and flavour parts. We explore the properties of different diagram topologies, and make explicit the connection between the IR-finiteness of certain diagrams and their gauge and flavour structure. Through a completely general flavour decomposition of the Wilson coefficient matrices, we uncover new flavour selection rules, from which small subsystems emerge which mix almost exclusively amongst themselves. We show that, for example, if we neglect all Yukawa couplings except for that of the top quark, the selection rules produce block diagonalisation within the current-current operators in which the largest block is a 61 × 61 matrix. We provide all the ingredients of the calculations in comprehensive appendices, including SM and SMEFT helicity amplitudes, and explicit results for phase space integrals and gauge contractions. This deconstruction of the matrix, and its resulting block-diagonalisation, provides a first step to understanding the IR-relevant directions in the SMEFT parameter space, hence closing in on natural places for heavy new physics to make itself known.

A bstract We consider aspects of tree and one-loop behavior in a generic 4d EFT of massless scalars, fermions, and vectors, with a particular eye to the high-energy limit of the Standard Model EFT at operator dimensions 6 and 8. First, we classify the possible Lorentz structures of operators and the subset of these that can arise at tree-level in a weakly coupled UV completion, extending the tree/loop classification through dimension 8 using functional methods. Second, we investigate how operators contribute to tree and one-loop helicity amplitudes, exploring the impact of non-renormalization theorems through dimension 8. We further observe that many dimension 6 contributions to helicity amplitudes, including rational parts, vanish exactly at one-loop level. This suggests the impact of helicity selection rules extends beyond one loop in non-supersymmetric EFTs.

A bstract We consider what multiple Higgs interactions may yet reveal about the scalar sector. We estimate the sensitivity of a Feynman topology-templated analysis of weak boson fusion Higgs pair production at present and future colliders — where the signal is a function of the Higgs coupling modifiers κ V , κ 2 V , and κ λ . While measurements are statistically limited at the LHC, they are under general perturbative control at present and future colliders, departures from the SM expectation give rise to a significant future potential for BSM discrimination in κ 2 V . We explore the landscape of BSM models in the space of deviations in κ V , κ 2 V , and κ λ , highlighting models that have measurable order-of-magnitude enhancements in either κ 2 V or κ λ , relative to their deviation in the single Higgs coupling κ V .

A bstract We present the results of the first complete one-loop matching calculation between the real singlet scalar extension of the Standard Model and the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT) at dimension six. Beyond their immediate relevance to the precision calculation of observables in singlet extensions of the Standard Model, our results illustrate a variety of general features of one-loop matching. We explore the interplay between non-supersymmetric non-renormalization theorems, the logarithmic dependence of Wilson coefficients, and the relevance of mixed diagrams in theories with large scale separation. In addition, we highlight some of the subtleties involved in computing observables at next-to-leading order in SMEFT by mapping our results to the T parameter at one loop.