The potential of HEFT and the scale of new physics

A bstract We employ a geometric framework to compute the leading high-energy behaviour of tree-level scattering amplitudes in theories containing N Nambu-Goldstone bosons and a single Higgs-like scalar with an arbitrary potential V . Using these methods, we obtain closed-form expressions for the leading contribution to the full infinite set of tree amplitudes involving any number of Goldstone and Higgs-like external states. These results are then used to derive total cross sections, decay rates, and perturbative unitarity bounds. We then apply our general formalism to the Standard Model scalar sector using the equivalence theorem, working in the regime of small field-space curvature, and use it to characterise the relation between Higgs Effective Field Theory (HEFT) and the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). We analyse three representative classes of models. Two reproduce previously known behaviours, while the third, based on a dilaton effective theory, exhibits a noteworthy feature within the HEFT framework: a smooth decoupling limit that connects HEFT directly to the Standard Model without passing through a SMEFT regime, providing a possible backdoor to the Standard Model.