In a type II seesaw utilized to explain the observed neutrino masses and mixings, one extends the standard model (SM) by introducing scalar fields which transform as a triplet under the electroweak gauge symmetry. New scalar couplings involving the Higgs doublet then appear and, as we show, these have important implications for the Higgs boson mass bounds obtained using vacuum stability and perturbativity arguments. We identify, in particular, regions of the parameter space which permit the SM Higgs boson to be as light as 114.4 GeV, the LEP2 bound. The triplet scalars include doubly charged particles whose masses could, in principle, be in the few hundred GeV range, and so they may be accessible at the LHC.

• Received 3 March 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.78.085005