RGE effects on new physics searches via gravitational waves

Abstract

Gravitational wave (GW) observations offer a promising probe of new physics associated with a first-order electroweak phase transition. Precision studies of the Higgs potential, including Fisher matrix analyses, have been extensively conducted in this context. However, significant theoretical uncertainties in the GW spectrum, particularly those due to renormalization scale dependence in the conventional daisy-resummed approach, have cast doubt on the reliability of such precision measurements. These uncertainties have been highlighted using the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) as a benchmark. To address these issues, we revisit Fisher matrix analyses based on the daisy-resummed approach, explicitly incorporating renormalization scale uncertainties. We then reassess the prospects for precise new physics measurements using GW observations. Adopting the SMEFT as a benchmark, we study the effects of one-loop RGE running of dimension-six operators on the Higgs effective potential via the Higgs self-couplings, top Yukawa coupling, and gauge couplings, in addition to the SMEFT tree-level effects. We find that future GW observations can remain sensitive to various dimension-six SMEFT effects, even in the presence of renormalization scale uncertainties, provided that the SMEFT $(H^{\dagger}H)^3$ operator is precisely measured, e.g., by future collider experiments.