Effects of two inert scalar doublets on Higgs boson interactions and the electroweak phase transition

Abstract

We study some implications of the presence of two new scalar weak doublets beyond the standard model which have zero vacuum expectation values and are charged under an extra Abelian gauge symmetry. The additional gauge sector does not couple directly to standard-model particles. We investigate specifically the effects of the scalars on oblique electroweak parameters and on the interactions of the 125 GeV Higgs boson, especially its decay modes h --> gamma gamma, gamma Z and trilinear self-coupling, all of which will be probed with improved precision in future Higgs measurements. Moreover, we explore how the new scalars may give rise to strongly first-order electroweak phase transition and also show its correlation with sizable modifications to the Higgs trilinear self-coupling.