arXiv subjects

Mikael Chala

Publications and source records attributed to Mikael Chala.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Renormalization of the SMEFT to Dimension Eight: Fermionic Interactions II

We compute the one-loop mixing of bosonic and two-fermion interactions into two-fermion operators in the dimension-eight Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). Together with the results in arXiv:2106.05291, arXiv:2205.03301, arXiv:2409.15408, and arXiv:2512.21724, this leaves only the mixing of four-fermion operators into two-fermion ones as the remaining piece to complete the SMEFT renormalization program at this order.

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arXiv2026

Hard thermal contributions to phase transition observables at NNLO

To construct the high-temperature effective field theory of gauge-Higgs models up to $\mathcal{O}(g^6)$ in the gauge coupling, we integrate out hard modes to three-loop level and use the next-to-next-to-leading order effective potential. For the Abelian Higgs model, we quantify the impact of both higher-dimensional operators and higher-loop corrections on thermodynamic parameters relevant for gravitational-wave observables, finding that one-loop dimension-six effects typically dominate over two- and three-loop corrections to super-renormalizable parameters for the strongest transitions. We derive the three-loop scalar and Debye masses for the ${\rm U(1)}$ and ${\rm SU}(N)$ gauge-Higgs models, as well as the two-loop quartic couplings for the Abelian case, show gauge independence of physical parameters, and demonstrate that no new master integrals are required for the matching, while consistency of 4d and 3d renormalizability points to previously missing contributions in these master integrals. As a byproduct, we report a previously missing contribution to the three-loop QCD Debye mass.

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arXiv2026

Thermoskyrmions

Skyrmions are stable and topologically non-trivial field configurations that behave like localized particles. They appear in the chiral effective theory for pions, where they correspond to the baryon states, and might also exist in the electroweak theory, in the presence of certain effective interactions. In this paper, focusing on toy models that capture different limits of the electroweak sector of the Standard Model (SM), we show that skyrmions not classically stable at zero temperature can be stabilized by thermal effects. This result motivates the study of skyrmions in the quantum effective action of the SM, potentially implying the existence of dark matter without new physics.

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arXiv2025

New insights into two-loop running in effective field theories

We show that, by viewing a 4D effective-field theory as the infrared (IR) limit of the compactified version in 5D, we can compute two-loop anomalous dimensions without gauge-breaking counter-terms, IR re-arrangement or geometric methods. The ultraviolet (UV) divergences in 4D are read from the IR ones in the matching from 5D to 4D. We use this approach to cross-check recent results in the literature, as well as to compute novel two-loop anomalous dimensions in the SMEFT to dimension eight and certain critical exponents in the charged fixed point of the Abelian Higgs model at large number of flavors.

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arXiv2025

Running Couplings in High-Temperature Effective Field Theory

In this work, we study the renormalization-group evolution of parameters in the three-dimensional effective field theory (3D EFT) that describes the thermally driven electroweak phase transition of the Higgs field. We consider tree-level and radiatively generated barriers induced by beyond the Standard Model physics, enabling a first-order phase transition at and below the soft scale, respectively. For each case, we compute the two-loop running of the 3D EFT couplings, including the effects of the leading nonrenormalizable terms. We then analyze how the new contributions to the beta functions compare with those in the super-renormalizable case, highlighting their impact on perturbative computations of the scalar potential, which describes the vacuum structure of the theory. By incorporating higher-order corrections in the mass parameter evolution, as well as the running of other effective operators, we set the stage for testing their impact on phase transition dynamics in lattice simulations.

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arXiv2025

Hot news on the phase structure of the SMEFT

We perform dimensional reduction of the electroweak sector of the dimension-six SMEFT to order $g^4$ in coupling constants $g$. This analysis includes one-loop contributions to kinetic terms and quartic couplings; as well as two-loop contributions, where operators such as four-fermion interactions first appear, to squared mass terms. Using lattice data, we also provide evidence that, in contrast with previous statements in the literature, the SMEFT may undergo a first-order phase transition even for null $|\phi|^6$ at zero temperature, where $\phi$ is the Higgs doublet. This opens the door to entirely unexplored directions in model building.

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arXiv2025

Phase Transitions in Dimensional Reduction up to Three Loops

We perform the first computation of phase-transition parameters to cubic order in $\lambda\sim m^2/T^2$, where $m$ is the scalar mass and $T$ is the temperature, in a simple model resembling the Higgs sector of the SMEFT. We use dimensional reduction, including 1-loop matching corrections for terms of dimension 6 (in 4-dimensional units), 2-loop contributions for dimension-4 ones and 3-loops for the squared mass. We precisely quantify the size of the different corrections, including renormalisation-group running as well as quantum effects from light fields in the effective theory provided by the Coleman-Weinberg potential, and discuss briefly the implications for gravitational waves. Our results suggest that, for strong phase transitions, 1-loop corrections from dimension-6 operators can compete with 2-loop ones from quartic couplings, but largely surpass those from 3-loop thermal masses.

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arXiv2025

Potential Blind Directions at TeraZ

The next generation of high-luminosity electron-positron colliders, such as FCC-ee and CEPC operating at the $Z$ pole (TeraZ), is expected to deliver unprecedented precision in electroweak measurements. These precision observables are typically interpreted within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), offering a powerful tool to constrain new physics. However, the large number of independent SMEFT operators allows for the possibility of blind directions, parameter combinations to which electroweak precision data are largely insensitive. In this work, we demonstrate that such blind directions are not merely an artefact of agnostic effective field theory scans, but arise generically in realistic ultraviolet completions involving multiple heavy fields. We identify several concrete multi-field extensions of the Standard Model whose low-energy SMEFT projections align with known blind subspaces, and show that these persist even after accounting for renormalisation group evolution and finite one-loop matching effects. Our analysis shows that TeraZ will set a new benchmark in precision for indirect searches, but fully probing the space of possible ultraviolet physics requires going beyond this stage. Later FCC-ee runs at higher centre-of-mass energies, together with the FCC-hh, will provide the necessary complementary probes, enabling a far more complete exploration of the SMEFT parameter space.

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arXiv2025

The High-Temperature Limit of the SM(EFT)

We derive the one-loop effective 3-dimensional Lagrangian that describes the high-temperature limit of the electroweak theory, to order $\mathcal{O}(g^6)$ in coupling constants $g$, including corrections due to Matsubara modes of both fermionic and bosonic degrees of freedom. We clarify certain aspects of the gauge-independence of physical parameters. We also extend the calculation to the Standard Model effective field theory, paving the way, in particular, for a precise study of the electroweak phase transition within this framework.

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arXiv2024

Efficient on-shell matching

We propose an efficient method to perform on-shell matching calculations in effective field theories. The standard off-shell approach to matching requires the use of a Green's basis that includes redundant and evanescent operators. The reduction of such a basis to a physical one is often highly non-trivial, difficult to automate and error prone. Our proposal is based on a numerical solution of the corresponding on-shell matching equations, which automatically implements in a trivial way the delicate cancellation between the non-local terms in the full theory and those in the effective one. The use of rational on-shell kinematics ensures an exact analytic solution despite the numerical procedure. In this way we only need a physical basis to perform the matching. Our procedure can be used to reduce any Green's basis to an arbitrary physical one, or to translate between physical bases; to renormalize arbitrary effective Lagrangians, directly in terms of a physical basis; and to perform finite matching, including evanescent contributions, as we discuss with explicit examples.

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arXiv2024

Higher-order corrections to phase-transition parameters in dimensional reduction

The dynamics of phase transitions (PT) in quantum field theories at finite temperature is most accurately described within the framework of dimensional reduction. In this framework, thermodynamic quantities are computed within the 3-dimensional effective field theory (EFT) that results from integrating out the high-temperature Matsubara modes. However, strong-enough PTs, observable in gravitational wave (GW) detectors, occur often nearby the limit of validity of the EFT, where effective operators can no longer be neglected. Here, we perform a quantitative analysis of the impact of these interactions on the determination of PT parameters. We find that they allow for strong PTs in a wider region of parameter space, and that both the peak frequency and the amplitude of the resulting GW power spectrum can change by more than one order of magnitude when they are included. As a byproduct of this work, we derive equations for computing the bounce solution in the presence of higher-derivative terms, consistently with the EFT power counting.

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arXiv2024

Computing Tools for Effective Field Theories

In recent years, theoretical and phenomenological studies with effective field theories have become a trending and prolific line of research in the field of high-energy physics. In order to discuss present and future prospects concerning automated tools in this field, the SMEFT-Tools 2022 workshop was held at the University of Zurich from 14th-16th September 2022. The current document collects and summarizes the content of this workshop.

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arXiv2024

Constraints on anomalous dimensions from the positivity of the S-matrix

We show that the analyticity and crossing symmetry of the S-matrix, together with the optical theorem, impose restrictions on the renormalisation group evolution of dimension-eight operators in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory. Moreover, in the appropriate basis of operators, the latter manifest as zeros in the anomalous dimension matrix that, to the best of our knowledge, have not been anticipated anywhere else in the literature. Our results can be trivially extended to other effective field theories.

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arXiv2024

Positivity restrictions on the mixing of dimension-eight SMEFT operators

We discuss the structure of the mixing among dimension-eight operators in the SMEFT relying on the positivity of two-to-two forward scattering amplitudes. We uncover tens of new non-trivial zeros as well as hundreds of terms with definite sign in (a particular basis of) the corresponding anomalous dimension matrix. We highlight that our results are not immediately apparent from the Feynman diagrammatic perspective, nor from on-shell amplitude methods. As a byproduct of this work, we provide positivity bounds not previously derived in the literature, as well as explicit values of certain elements of the anomalous dimension matrix that serve for cross-check of our results.

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arXiv2023

Towards the renormalisation of the Standard Model effective field theory to dimension eight: Bosonic interactions II

We calculate the renormalisation group running of the bosonic Standard Model (SM) effective operators at one loop and to order $v^4/Λ^4$, with $v\sim 246$ GeV being the electroweak scale and $Λ$ the unknown new physics threshold. We focus on contributions driven by one dimension-eight term and SM couplings, thus extending (and completing) the effort initiated in arXiv:2106.05291, in which quantum corrections from pairs of dimension-six interactions were considered. We highlight some interesting consequences, including the renormalisation of loop-induced interactions by tree-level generated terms and, more importantly, the validity of positivity bounds on different operators inducing anomalous gauge quartic couplings.

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arXiv2023

The Landscape of Composite Higgs Models

We classify all different composite Higgs models (CHMs) characterised by the coset space $\mathcal{G}/\cal{H}$ of compact semi-simple Lie groups $\mathcal{G}$ and $\mathcal{H}$ involving up to 13 Nambu-Goldstone bosons (NGBs), together with mild phenomenological constraints. As a byproduct of this work, we prove several simple yet, to the best of our knowledge, mostly unknown results: (1) Under certain conditions, a given set of massless scalars can be UV completed into a CHM in which they arise as NGBs; (2) The set of all CHMs with a fixed number of NGBs is finite, and in particular there are 642 of them with up to 13 massless scalars (factoring out models that differ by extra $U(1)$'s); (3) Any scalar representation of the Standard Model group can be realised within a CHM; (4) Certain symmetries of the scalar sector allowed from the IR perspective are never realised within CHMs. On top of this, we make a simple statistical analysis of the landscape of CHMs, determining the frequency of models with scalar singlets, doublets, triplets and other multiplets of the custodial group as well as their multiplicity. We also count the number of models with a symmetric coset.

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arXiv2023

Running in the ALPs

The couplings of axion-like particles are probed by different experiments across a huge range of energy scales. Accordingly, a consistent analysis of the corresponding constraints requires the use of the renormalization group equations. We compute the full one-loop renormalization group evolution of all -- relevant and marginal -- parameters in the effective field theory for axion-like particles up to dimension five, above and below the electroweak scale, assuming only that new physics does not violate CP. We also include a detailed discussion of the different bases used in the literature, the relations among them and the interplay of the CP and shift symmetries.

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arXiv2022

Theory Techniques for Precision Physics -- Snowmass 2021 TF06 Topical Group Report

The wealth of experimental data collected at laboratory experiments suggests that there is some scale separation between the Standard Model (SM) and phenomena beyond the SM (BSM). New phenomena can manifest itself as small corrections to SM predictions, or as signals in processes where the SM predictions vanish or are exceedingly small. This makes precise calculations of the SM expectations essential, in order to maximize the sensitivity of current and forthcoming experiments to BSM physics. This topical group report highlights some past and forthcoming theory developments critical for maximizing the sensitivity of the experimental program to understanding Nature at the shortest distances.

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