The neutrino option

Abstract

We discuss the possibility that the Higgs potential and electroweak scale are generated radiatively in a type-I seesaw scenario. A Higgs potential consistent with experimental constraints can be obtained in this hypothesis for a Majorana mass scale mN ∼ 10 − 500 PeV and with neutrino Yukawa couplings of order |ω| ∼ 10−4.5 − 10−6. Remarkably, neutrino masses and mixings can be simultaneously accommodated within this parameter space. This framework, that ties together Higgs phenomenology, precision top quark mass measurements and neutrino physics, represents an alternative approach to the hierarchy problem, in which the Higgs mass is not stabilized around the TeV scale, but rather determined by radiative corrections at higher energies. Traditional hurdles in overcoming the hierarchy problem are then traded for the new challenge of generating PeV Majorana masses while suppressing the tree-level scalar potential in the UV.