Theoretical constraints on models with vector-like fermions

Abstract

We provide a set of theoretical constraints on models in which the Standard Model field content is extended by vector-like fermions and in some cases also by a real scalar singlet. Our approach is based on the study of electroweak vacuum stability, perturbativity of model couplings and gauge couplings unification with the use of renormalization group equations. We show that careful analysis of these issues leads to strong constraints on the parameter space of the considered models. This, in turn, has important implications for phenomenology, as we show using examples of the double Higgs boson production, electroweak precision observables, and the electroweak phase transition.