Multi-Higgs doublet models: physical parametrization, sum rules and unitarity bounds

If the scalar sector of the Standard Model is non-minimal, one might expect multiple generations of the hypercharge-1/2 scalar doublet analogous to the generational structure of the fermions. In this work, we examine the structure of a Higgs sector consisting ofNHiggs doublets (whereN≥ 2). It is particularly convenient to work in the so-calledcharged Higgs basis, in which the neutral Higgs vacuum expectation value resides entirely in the first Higgs doublet, and the charged components of remainingN− 1 Higgs doublets are mass-eigenstate fields. We elucidate the interactions of the gauge bosons with the physical Higgs scalars and the Goldstone bosons and show that they are determined by anN× 2Nmatrix. This matrix depends on (N− 1)(2N− 1) real parameters that are associated with the mixing of the neutral Higgs fields in the charged Higgs basis. Among these parameters,N− 1 are unphysical (and can be removed by rephasing the physical charged Higgs fields), and the remaining 2(N− 1)²parameters are physical. We also demonstrate a particularly simple form for the cubic interaction and some of the quartic interactions of the Goldstone bosons with the physical Higgs scalars. These results are applied in the derivation of Higgs coupling sum rules and tree-level unitarity bounds that restrict the size of the quartic scalar couplings. In particular, new applications to three Higgs doublet models with an order-4 CP symmetry and with a $$ {\mathbb{Z}}_3 $$ℤ3 symmetry, respectively, are presented.