Complementarity between gravitational wave signatures and Higgs precision measurements of a classically conformal hidden U(1) extended Standard Model

Abstract

We consider a classically conformal extension of the Standard Model (SM) with a hidden $U(1)$ gauge symmetry, where the $U(1)$ symmetry is radiatively broken via the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. This radiative breaking then induces electroweak (EW) symmetry breaking through a negative mixed quartic coupling between the hidden sector Higgs field and the SM Higgs doublet. Due to the mixed quartic coupling, the original two Higgs fields mix with a small angle $\theta$ to form two mass eigenstates, $h_1$ (SM-like Higgs) and $h_2$ (SM singlet-like Higgs). Setting their masses as $M_{h_1} > 2 M_{h_2}$ to allow the decay process, $h_1 \to h_2 h_2$, we find a remarkable prediction of the conformal Higgs potential: the corresponding decay width is strongly suppressed in contrast to the one in the conventional Higgs potential. This anomalous behavior provides a striking experimental signature testable at the International Linear Collider (ILC) and other future high-energy lepton colliders. In this work, we investigate further experimental signatures of the model which are complementary to the Higgs physics at the colliders. First, we study the hidden $U(1)$ gauge boson as a cold dark matter (DM) candidate. While we find parameter regions consistent with both the observed relic abundance and collider sensitivities, these regions are excluded by current direct DM detection limits. Second, we consider a strong first-order phase transition associated with hidden $U(1)$ breaking in the early universe and compute the resulting gravitational wave (GW) spectrum. We find that for parameter regions complementary to Higgs precision measurements at the ILC, the predicted GW signals lie well above the projected sensitivities of future GW observatories.