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The Effect of Time Variation in the Higgs Vacuum Expectation Value on the Cosmic Microwave Background

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abstract

A time variation in the Higgs vacuum expectation value alters the electron mass and thereby changes the ionization history of the universe. This change produces a measurable imprint on the pattern of cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations. The nuclear masses and nuclear binding energies, as well as the Fermi coupling constant, are also altered, with negligible impact on the CMB. We calculate the changes in the spectrum of the CMB fluctuations as a function of the change in the electron mass. We find that future CMB experiments could be sensitive to |\Delta m_e/m_e| \sim |\Delta G_F/G_F| \sim 10^{-2} - 10^{-3}. However, we also show that a change in the electron mass is nearly, but not exactly, degenerate with a change in the fine-structure constant. If both the electron mass and the fine-structure constant are time-varying, the corresponding CMB limits are much weaker, particularly for l < 1000.

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hep-ph 1

years

2025 1

verdicts

CONDITIONAL 1

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Dark Matter and CP Violation in Some Symmetry-Constrained 3HDMs

hep-ph · 2025-06-09 · conditional · novelty 4.0

S3-symmetric three-Higgs-doublet models allow dark matter in a 29-42 GeV window, exclude heavy candidates above 500 GeV, and admit MeV-scale light scalars, while continuous-symmetry variants produce mass-degenerate dark states.

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  • Dark Matter and CP Violation in Some Symmetry-Constrained 3HDMs hep-ph · 2025-06-09 · conditional · none · ref 291 · internal anchor

    S3-symmetric three-Higgs-doublet models allow dark matter in a 29-42 GeV window, exclude heavy candidates above 500 GeV, and admit MeV-scale light scalars, while continuous-symmetry variants produce mass-degenerate dark states.