Positivity bounds in the standard model effective field theory beyond tree level

Abstract

Focusing on four-Higgs interactions, we analyze the robustness of tree-level-derived positivity bounds on standard model effective field theory (SMEFT) operators under quantum corrections. Among other results, we demonstrate that: (i) Even in the simplest extensions of the Standard Model, e.g., with one new scalar singlet or with a neutral triplet, some positivity bounds are strictly violated; (ii) the mixing of the dimension-eight operators under renormalization, which we compute here for the first time, can drive them out of their positivity region; (iii) the running of the dimension-eight interactions triggered by solely dimension-six terms respects the positivity bounds. Our results suggest, on one hand, that departures from positivity within the SMEFT, if ever found in the data, do not necessarily imply the breaking of unitarity or causality, nor the presence of new light degrees of freedom. On the other hand, they lead to strong constraints on the form of certain anomalous dimensions.