Complementarity of gravitational wave analyses and di-Higgs production in the exploration of the electroweak phase transition dynamics in the RxSM

A bstract The real singlet extension of the Standard Model (SM), RxSM, is one of the simplest Beyond-the-Standard Model (BSM) theories that can accommodate a strong first-order electroweak phase transition (SFOEWPT). We survey the possible thermal histories of the early Universe in the RxSM, and find that a SFOEWPT can occur in this model as single- or two-step phase transitions. We investigate complementary approaches to probe such scenarios experimentally: either via searches for a stochastic background of gravitational waves (GWs) or via searches for di-Higgs production processes at future collider experiments: the HL-LHC, or a possible high-energy e + e − collider. For these analyses we consistently include one-loop corrections to the trilinear Higgs couplings. We find that entirely different phenomenological signals are possible, depending on how the SFOEWPT occurs. In scenarios where such a transition is driven by the Higgs doublet direction in field space, BSM deviations in properties of the detected Higgs boson, particularly in the trilinear scalar coupling, typically lead to observable signals at colliders, while the regions of parameter space with detectable GW signals are very narrow. On the other hand, if the SFOEWPT is triggered by the singlet field direction, the detected Higgs boson is very SM-like and no signs of BSM physics would appear in di-Higgs production processes. However, strong GW signals could be produced for significant parts of the RxSM parameter space with singlet-driven SFOEWPT. This work highlights the crucial importance of exploiting complementary experimental directions to determine the dynamics of the electroweak phase transition and access the shape of the Higgs potential realised in Nature.