HiggsSkala

HiggsSkala is a hypothetical energy scale used in theoretical discussions of the Higgs sector and its sensitivity to new physics. The term, not part of the Standard Model, denotes the scale at which the Higgs field interacts with additional degrees of freedom beyond those of the minimal electroweak theory. In many approaches to naturalness and ultraviolet (UV) completions, HiggsSkala represents the cutoff at which the Higgs potential or its couplings receive significant corrections from new dynamics, such as composite Higgs scenarios, supersymmetry, extra dimensions, or strong dynamics.

Estimates for HiggsSkala vary by model and are not uniquely defined. Some arguments place it around the TeV scale, making it potentially accessible to current or near-future colliders, while other constructions push it higher, reducing immediate experimental prospects. Experimental constraints from Higgs coupling measurements, electroweak precision data, and direct searches constrain how low such a scale can be, but do not measure it directly.

In effective field theory language, one introduces higher-dimension operators suppressed by powers of the HiggsSkala, encoding effects of unknown high-energy physics in a model-independent way.

See also: Higgs boson, Standard Model, electroweak symmetry breaking, naturalness, effective field theory, beyond the Standard Model.