Yukawa interaction

A Yukawa interaction couples left- and right-handed fermions through a scalar field. Replacing the Higgs field by its vacuum expectation value turns a gauge-invariant Standard Model Yukawa interaction into a fermion mass term.

For one four-component Dirac field with scalar interaction $-y\bar{\psi }\psi \varphi$ and the mostly-plus propagator convention, the fermion loop numerator is $4[M^2-k\cdot (k-p)]$. Reduce it to a bubble and tadpole: $-4y^2[(2M^2+p^2/2)J-I]$. Dimensional regularization gives pole parts $J=2/(\epsilon 16{\pi }^2)$ and $I=-2M^2/(\epsilon 16{\pi }^2)$. The local pole then requires both wavefunction renormalization and a scalar mass counterterm.

For a real scalar coupled through $-g\bar{\psi }\varphi \psi$, the scalar-fermion Feynman vertex is $-ig$. Two-fermion scattering has scalar exchange in the $t$ and $u$ channels with a relative minus from exchanging identical external fermions. Fermion-antifermion scattering has $t$ exchange and $s$ annihilation, again with a relative fermionic minus for a fixed state ordering. Fermion-scalar scattering has the two orderings along one open fermion line, using internal momenta $p_1+p_2$ and $p_1-p_4$; these have the same sign. The Mandelstam variables specify the propagator denominators.

The pseudoscalar Yukawa interaction with coefficient $-g$ has the displayed Feynman vertex. Its two-fermion tree-level Feynman diagrams are the $t$ and $u$ exchanges; antisymmetry of the final identical fermions requires their relative minus. Fermion-antifermion scattering has $t$ exchange and $s$ annihilation, again with a relative minus. With initial and final states ordered as $b_1^{†}{d}_2^{†}|0⟩$ and $b_3^{†}{d}_4^{†}|0⟩$, the normal-ordered current contributes $-d^{†}d\bar{v}{\gamma }^{5}v$ in the exchange channel but $db$ and $b^{†}{d}^{†}$ in the annihilation channel. These fermionic signs fix the overall sign as well as their interference; changing an external-state phase changes both terms together.

The Standard Model lepton doublet $L=({\nu }_L,e_L{)}^T$ has hypercharge $-1/2$, the electron singlet $e_R$ has $-1$, and the Higgs doublet has $1/2$. Therefore $-y_e\bar{L}\varphi e_R+h.c.$ is gauge-invariant even though a bare ${\bar{e}}_L{e}_R$ mass is not. The vacuum expectation value generates a Dirac mass $|y_e|v/\sqrt{2}$. In unitary gauge, the Higgs boson coupling is $-(m_e/v)h\bar{e}e$ after rephasing the electron.

A pseudoscalar Yukawa interaction couples a Dirac field bilinear containing the chirality matrix to a spin-zero field. In the standard mostly-minus gamma matrix convention with ${\gamma }^5=i{\gamma }^0{\gamma }^1{\gamma }^2{\gamma }^3$ and the usual Dirac adjoint, $ig\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^5\psi \varphi$ is Hermitian for real $g$ and real $\varphi$. If $\varphi$ is a pseudoscalar, the interaction also preserves parity symmetry in quantum field theory; if $\varphi$ is parity even, it breaks that symmetry. Moving the factor $i$ into the definition of ${\gamma }^5$ changes the displayed vertex coefficient but not the interaction. Each vertex has one bosonic leg and two oppositely oriented fermion legs, and preserves Dirac fermion number conservation.

With the usual Dirac adjoint, Hermitian ${\gamma }^5$ and $\{{\gamma }^0,{\gamma }^5\}=0$, taking the adjoint gives ${\psi }^{†}{\gamma }^5{\gamma }^0\psi =-{\psi }^{†}{\gamma }^0{\gamma }^5\psi$. Consequently a real pseudoscalar with coupling $-g\varphi \bar{\psi }{\gamma }^5\psi$ has a Hermitian interaction only if $g^{\ast }=-g$. Writing $g=i{g}_P$ with real $g_P$ gives the familiar interaction $-i{g}_P\varphi \bar{\psi }{\gamma }^5\psi$. Formal Euler-Lagrange field equations obtained with independent spinor and adjoint variables can still be computed for the original symbolic coupling; it must not silently be identified with a real physical coupling.

After a scalar vacuum expectation value, a Yukawa matrix produces a bilinear $-{\bar{f}}_L{M}_f{f}_R+h.c.$. Independent unitary left/right rotations diagonalize $M_f$ with nonnegative masses. Extra scalar-dependent operators can make the physical scalar coupling matrix fail to diagonalize with the mass matrix.

A Yukawa matrix contains the flavor-space couplings between left-handed fermions, right-handed fermions, and a scalar field. Its singular values determine fermion masses after symmetry breaking, while mismatches between its diagonalizing transformations produce flavor mixing.

A singular value decomposition of the charged-lepton Yukawa matrix uses independent unitary rotations of left- and right-handed leptons. Their gauge-covariant kinetic terms are unchanged because each rotation mixes identical Standard Model representations. After electroweak symmetry breaking, the nonnegative singular values give Dirac masses $m_i=y_{i}v/\sqrt{2}$ and diagonal Higgs boson couplings $m_i/v$. When the neutrinos are massless, rotating their left-handed fields with the charged partners preserves the diagonal weak charged current.