CP violation in 2HDM and EFT: the ZZZ vertex

Abstract

We study the CP violating ZZZ vertex in the two-Higgs doublet model, which is a probe of a Jarlskog-type invariant in the extended Higgs sector. The form factor $f_4^Z$ is evaluated at one loop in a general $R_{\xi }$ gauge and its magnitude is estimated in the realistic parameter space. Then we turn to the decoupling limit of the two-Higgs doublet model, where the extra scalars are heavy and the physics can be described by the Standard Model supplemented by higher-dimensional operators. The leading operator contributing to $f_4^Z$ at one loop is identified. The CP violating ZZZ vertex is not generated in the effective theory by dimension-8 operators, but instead arises only at the dimension-12 level, which implies an additional suppression by powers of the heavy Higgs mass scale.

Comments: 21 pages; v2: added references and comments, appendix A on method of regions, and appendix B on derivation of CP-violating effective Lagrangian. Corrected discussion of dimension-12 operators contributing to ZZZ vertex. Final JHEP version