A. Barroso, P. M. Ferreira, I. P. Ivanov, Rui Santos, João P. Silva
Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory have forced a reappraisal of the vacuum's exact nature. This is specially true in the Standard Model of particle interactions, where spontaneous symmetry breaking of the electroweak symmetry by the vacuum is mandatory for elementary particles to acquire masses. The mechanism implemented with one scalar doublet leads to a simple vacuum structure at current energies. But, the open possibility that there might be two scalar doublets, enriches the vacuum structure, allowing for the possibility that we might now be in a metastable state, which we dub the panic vacuum. Current experiments at LHC are probing the Higgs particle predicted as a result of the spontaneous symmetry breaking. Remarkably, these experiments may also be useful to dispel the panic vacuum, as we show in a simple model with two doublets and a softly broken U(1) symmetry.
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http://arxiv.org/abs/1211.6119
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