The Electroweak Vacuum Decay and the Gravitational Contribution

Abstract

Whether the Standard Model electroweak vacuum is stable, metastable or unstable depends crucially on the top mass (and, to a lesser extent, on other measurable quantities). These topics are reviewed and updated by taking into account the most recent determination of the top and Higgs masses. Moreover, the correction to the vacuum decay due to Einstein gravity is described. This process is also discussed in a scenario, called softened gravity, which has been proposed as a solution of the Higgs mass hierarchy problem.