Is the exact form of the Higgs potential known?

Question

Usually the Higgs potential is given as $$ \frac{1}{2}\mu^2\phi^2 - \frac{1}{4}\lambda^2\phi^4 $$ but I never quite understood if this just serves to give us an idea of how symmetry breaking works, or if it is actually the correct expression for the potential.

Does the potential above agree with experiments? Is that the Higgs potential?

Answer 1

Yes, that is the Higgs potential of the Standard Model.

Note that a $\phi^3$ term is forbidden by symmetry (it would not be an $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ scalar), and $\mathcal{O}(\phi^5)$ terms would be non-renormalizable, so this is really the only potential we can write down that does not need other new physics.