Positivity restrictions on the mixing of dimension-eight SMEFT operators

Abstract

We discuss the structure of the mixing among dimension-eight operators in the Standard Model effective field theory relying on the positivity of two-to-two forward scattering amplitudes. We uncover tens of new nontrivial zeros as well as hundreds of terms with definite sign in (a particular basis of) the corresponding anomalous dimension matrix. We highlight that our results are not immediately apparent from the Feynman diagrammatic perspective, nor from on-shell amplitude methods. As a by-product of this work, we provide positivity bounds not previously derived in the literature, as well as explicit values of certain elements of the anomalous dimension matrix that serve as a cross-check of our results.