Critical Higgs Mass and Temperature Dependence of Gauge Boson Masses in the SU(2) Gauge-Higgs Model

Abstract

We study the effective 3-D SU(2) Gauge-Higgs model at finite temperature for Higgs-masses in the range from $60$ GeV up to $100$ GeV. The first order electroweak phase transition weakens with increasing Higgs-mass and terminates at a critical end-point. For Higgs-mass values larger than about $m_{H,c}=75.4(6)$ GeV the thermodynamic signature of the transition is described by a crossover. Close to this Higgs-mass value we investigate the vector boson propagator in Landau gauge. The calculated W-boson screening masses are compared with predictions based on gap equations.