We show that weak scale vectorlike fermions with order one couplings to the Higgs can lead to a novel mechanism for a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition through their tendency to drive the Higgs quartic coupling negative. These same fermions could also enhance the loop-induced branching fraction of the Higgs into two photons, as suggested by the recent discovery of a $\sim 125\mathrm{GeV}$ Higgs-like state at the CERN LHC. Our results suggest that measurements of the diphoton decay rate of the Higgs and its self-coupling, at the LHC or perhaps at a future lepton collider, could probe the electroweak phase transition in the early Universe, with significant implications for the viability of electroweak baryogenesis scenarios.

• Received 20 November 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.87.093001