Exotic Higgs Decays and the Electroweak Phase Transition

Light new physics weakly coupled to the Higgs can induce a strong first-order electroweak phase transition (EWPT). Here, we argue that scenarios in which the EWPT is driven first-order by a light scalar with mass between $\sim 10$ GeV - $m_h/2$ and small mixing with the Higgs will be conclusively probed by the high-luminosity LHC and future Higgs factories. Our arguments are based on analytic and numerical studies of the finite-temperature effective potential and provide a well-motivated target for exotic Higgs decay searches at the LHC and future lepton colliders.

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