Renormalization Group Evolution of the Standard Model Dimension Six Operators III: Gauge Coupling Dependence and Phenomenology

TL;DR

This work completes the one-loop renormalization of the Standard Model EFT dimension-six Lagrangian by providing the gauge-coupling contributions to the full 2499×2499 anomalous dimension matrix. It builds on prior λ- and Yukawa-term results to enable RG-improved predictions for electroweak and Higgs observables, including Higgs production and decays, EW precision parameters, and triple gauge couplings. The analysis clarifies how HQ-scale new physics at Λ renormalizes d=4 SM parameters and how operator mixing propagates flavor violation, testing the MFV hypothesis in a model-independent way. The results offer a framework to map low-energy deviations back to Λ and to plan precision SMEFT studies as data increasingly constrain BSM scenarios. The paper also discusses basis choices (SILH vs standard basis), EOM effects, and the stability of MFV under RG flow, which are essential for consistent phenomenological interpretations.

Abstract

We calculate the gauge terms of the one-loop anomalous dimension matrix for the dimension-six operators of the Standard Model effective field theory (SM EFT). Combining these results with our previous results for the $λ$ and Yukawa coupling terms completes the calculation of the one-loop anomalous dimension matrix for the dimension-six operators. There are 1350 $CP$-even and $1149$ $CP$-odd parameters in the dimension-six Lagrangian for 3 generations, and our results give the entire $2499 \times 2499$ anomalous dimension matrix. We discuss how the renormalization of the dimension-six operators, and the additional renormalization of the dimension $d \le 4$ terms of the SM Lagrangian due to dimension-six operators, lays the groundwork for future precision studies of the SM EFT aimed at constraining the effects of new physics through precision measurements at the electroweak scale. As some sample applications, we discuss some aspects of the full RGE improved result for essential processes such as $gg \to h$, $h \to γγ$ and $h \to Z γ$, for Higgs couplings to fermions, for the precision electroweak parameters $S$ and $T$, and for the operators that modify important processes in precision electroweak phenomenology, such as the three-body Higgs boson decay $h \rightarrow Z \, \ell^+ \, \ell^-$ and triple gauge boson couplings. We discuss how the renormalization group improved results can be used to study the flavor problem in the SM EFT, and to test the minimal flavor violation (MFV) hypothesis. We briefly discuss the renormalization effects on the dipole coefficient $C_{eγ}$ which contributes to $μ\to e γ$ and to the muon and electron magnetic and electric dipole moments.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: A penguin diagram. The solid square is a $\psi^4$ vertex from $\mathcal{L}^{(6)}$, and the dot is a SM gauge coupling.
• Figure 2: Graphs with insertions of the $X^3$ operator which cancel after using the equations of motion.