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Electroweak Phase Transitions with BSM Fermions

We study the impact of additional beyond-the-Standard Model (BSM) fermions, charged under the Standard Model (SM) $SU(2)_L \otimes U(1)_Y$ gauge group, on the electroweak phase transition (EWPT) in a 2-Higgs-Doublet-Model (2HDM) of type II. We find that the strength of the EWPT can be enhanced by about 40% compared to the default 2HDM. Therefore, additional light fermions are a useful tool to weaken the tension between increasing mass constraints on BSM scalars and the requirement of additional light scalar degrees of freedom to accommodate a strong first order EWPT. The findings are of particular interest for a variety of (non-minimal) split supersymmetry scenarios which necessarily introduce additional light fermion degrees of freedom.