Exceptional regions of the 2HDM parameter space

Abstract

The exceptional region of the parameter space (ERPS) of the two Higgs doublet model (2HDM) is defined to be the parameter regime where the scalar potential takes on a very special form. In the standard parameterization of the 2HDM scalar potential with squared mass parameters $m_{11}^2$, $m_{22}^2$, $m_{12}^2$, and dimensionless couplings, $λ_1$, $λ_2$, $\ldots,λ_7$, the ERPS corresponds to $λ_1=λ_2$, $λ_7=-λ_6$, $m_{11}^2=m_{22}^2$ and $m_{12}^2=0$, corresponding to a scalar potential with an enhanced generalized CP symmetry called GCP2. Many special features persist if $λ_1=λ_2$ and $λ_7=-λ_6$ are retained while allowing for $m_{11}^2\neq m_{22}^2$ and/or $m_{12}^2\neq 0$, corresponding to a scalar potential with a softly-broken GCP2 symmetry, which we designate as the ERPS4. In this paper, we examine many of the special features of the ERPS4, as well as even more specialized cases within the ERPS4 framework in which additional constraints on the scalar potential parameters are imposed. By surveying the landscape of the ERPS4, we complete the classification of 2HDM scalar potentials that exhibit an exact Higgs alignment (where the tree-level couplings of one neutral scalar coincide with those of the Standard Model Higgs boson), due to a residual symmetry that is unbroken in the vacuum. One surprising aspect of the ERPS4 is the possibility that the scalar sector is CP-conserving despite the presence of a complex parameter of the scalar potential whose complex phase cannot be removed by separate rephasings of the two scalar doublet fields. The significance of the ERPS4 regime for custodial symmetry is also discussed, and the cases where a custodial symmetric 2HDM scalar potential preserves an exact Higgs alignment are elucidated.