Associated production of heavy Higgs boson with top quarks

Associated production of a heavy Higgs boson (m_H > 100 GeV) with top quarks at Juratron energies is studied. It is natural to differentiate between the “light” (2m_t < m_H < 2m_W) and “heavy” (m_H > 2m_W) Higgs search. It is assumed that the mass value of the top quarks is in the interval m_t ≈ 30–80 GeV. m_W is the W-boson mass. If m_H < 2m_W a dangerous background is given by the QCD production of four top quarks. We have calculated the cross sections for both the Higgs production and the background reaction. The disappointing result found is that the background is overwhelmingly large. However the Higgs search in this mass region is not hopeless. The associated production of the Higgs boson with a W-boson may have a clear experimental signature, its background given by the reaction $\text{p}\text{+}\text{p}\text{→}\text{W}\text{+}\text{t}\text{+}\text{t}$ might be suppressed. The difficulty with this mechanism is that the rate is rather low. If m_H > 2m_W the background is different and its contribution is expected to be small. The associated production of a Higgs boson with a pair of top quarks might be a useful method in the Higgs search in this case.     

Charged Higgs production at hadron colliders

We study the production and decay of charged Higgs bosons,H ^±, at TEVATRON and SSC energies as a function of the top massm _t and theH ^± massm _H . We give the cross sections for events arising from bothH ^±→τν andtb decays, together with those of the competing background processes. In particular, form _t >m _H we studyH ^± W ^? andW ⁺ W ^? production and thet→bτν decay.     

Higgs boson searches at the Tevatron

This article reviews the Higgs searches at the Tevatron, as presented over the summer of 2012; both standard model (SM) and beyond the standard model (BSM) results are discussed as detailed (arXiv: 1207.0449; Phys. Rev. Lett., 2012, 109: 071804; Phys. Rev. D, 2012, 85: 032005). We discuss the combination of searches by the CDF and D0 Collaborations for the standard model Higgs boson in the mass range 100–200 GeV/c ² produced in the the gg → H, WH, ZH, t{ie27-1}H, and vector boson fusion production modes, and decaying in the H → b{ie27-2}, H → W ⁺ W ^?, H → ZZ, H → τ ⁺ τ ^?, and H → γγ modes. The data, collected at the Fermilab Tevatron collider in p{ie27-3} collisions at {ie27-4} TeV, correspond to integrated luminosities of up to 10 fb^?1. In the absence of signal, we expect to exclude the regions 100<m _H < 120 GeV/c ² and 139<m _H < 184 GeV/c ². We exclude, at the 95% C.L., two regions: 100<m _H < 103 GeV/c ², and 147<m _H < 180 GeV/c ². We observe a significant excess of events in the mass range between 115 and 140 GeV/c ². The local significance corresponds to 3.0 standard deviations at m _H = 120 GeV/c ²; the global significance (incorporating the look-elsewhere effect) for such an excess anywhere in the full mass range investigated is approximately 2.5 standard deviations. Furthermore, we separately combine searches for H → b{ie27-5}, H → W+W ^? and H → γγ. We find that the excess is concentrated in the H → b{ie27-6} channel, appearing in the searches over a broad range of m _H ; the maximum local significance of 3.3 standard deviations corresponds to a global significance of approximately 3.1 standard deviations. The observed signal strengths in all channels are consistent with the expectation for a standard model Higgs boson at m _H = 125 GeV/c ². The production of neutral Higgs bosons in association with b-quarks can be significantly enhanced in various beyond the standard model scenarios, including Supersymmetry. The recent combination of such searches from the two collaborations is discussed.     

Full O(αew) electroweak corrections to e+e−→HHZ

We calculate the full $\text{O}\text{(α}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>ew</mtext>}}\text{)}$ electroweak corrections to the Higgs pair production process e⁺e⁻→HHZ at an electron–positron linear collider in the standard model, and analyze the dependence of the Born cross section and the corrected cross section on the Higgs boson mass m_H and the c.m. energy $\text{s}$. To see the origin of some of the large corrections clearly, we calculate the QED and genuine weak corrections separately. The numerical results show that the corrections significantly suppress or enhance the Born cross section, depending on the values of m_H and $\text{s}$. For the c.m. energy $\text{s}\text{=500}$ GeV, which is the most favorable colliding energy for HHZ production with intermediate Higgs boson mass, the relative correction decreases from −5.3% to −11.5% as m_H increases from 100 to 150 GeV. For the range of the c.m. energy where the cross section is relatively large, the genuine weak relative correction is small, less than 5%.     

Higgs detection via Z0 polarisation

It is demonstrated that if one determines the polarisation of the Z⁰ final states from pp → Z⁰Z⁰ → charged leptons, then one can reliably detect the presence of a Higgs boson in the range 300 GeV < m_H < 1 TeV at the SSC. This is in contrast to other methods for Higgs detection which are susceptible to QCD backgrounds, severe cuts, or uncertainties in the Z⁰ continuum. For one year's running at the nominal SSC luminosity of 10³³ cm⁻² s⁻¹ and energy 40 TeV there are sufficient numbers of such events to perform the straightforward analysis.     

On MSSM charged Higgs-boson production in association with an electroweak W boson at electron–positron colliders

We present a calculation of the cross section for the process e⁺e^-→W^±H^∓ in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and the two Higgs doublet model (THDM). We study the basic features of the MSSM prediction for some distinctive parameter scenarios. We find large effects from virtual third-generation squarks for scenarios with large mixing, which can lead to a cross section vastly different from a THDM with identical Higgs sector parameters. We investigate this interesting behaviour in more detail by thoroughly scanning the MSSM parameter space for regions of large cross section. For a charged Higgs boson too heavy to be pair produced at a future high-energy electron–positron collider it turns out that a large MSSM cross section with a good chance of observation is linked to a squark mass scale below 600 GeV and a considerable amount of mixing in either the stop and sbottom sector.     

Prospects for the measurement of the structure of the coupling of a Higgs boson to weak gauge bosons in weak boson fusion with the ATLAS detector

The prospects for the measurement of the tensor structure of the vertex between a standard model Higgs boson and two weak gauge bosons using the distribution of the azimuthal angles between the two tagging jets in the weak boson fusion channel are studied in a Monte Carlo analysis using the fast simulation of the ATLAS detector. The decay channels H→τ⁺τ^-→ll+4ν, H→τ⁺τ^-→lh+3ν at m_H=120 GeV and H→W⁺W^-→llνν at m_H=160 GeV are used in the analysis. For a standard model Higgs boson it is found that purely anomalous couplings are expected to be excluded at a confidence level corresponding to 2σ or more at m_H=120 GeV and more than 5σ at m_H=160 GeV from 30 fb^-1 of data. With a value of 1 roughly reproducing the standard model cross section for a purely anomalous coupling, the standard deviation in a measurement of a contribution of a CP even anomalous coupling in addition to the standard model coupling is estimated to be 0.20 at m_H=120 GeV and 0.09 at m_H=160 GeV.     

Electroweak radiative corrections to the top quark decay

The top quark, once produced, should be an important window to the electroweak symmetry breaking sector. We compute electroweak radiative corrections to the decay processt→b+W ⁺ in order to extract information on the Higgs sector and to fix the background in searches for a possible new physics contribution. The large Yukawa coupling of the top quark induces a new form factor through vertex corrections and causes discrepancy from the tree-level longitudinalW-boson production fraction, but the effect is of order 1% or less form _H<1 TeV.     

Upper bounds on Higgs-Boson masses in the Weinberg-Salam model with three Higgs doublets

In the Weinberg-Salam model with three Higgs doublets, the positivity of masses and tree graph unitarity applied on Higgs scattering lead to the following upper bounds on Higgs masses: m_H1^±, m_H2^± < 883 GeV, m_H1⁰ < 500 GeV, m_H2⁰, m_H3⁰ < (958–1633) GeV, m_H4⁰, m_H5⁰ < (360–883) GeV.     

A bound on universal extra dimension models from up to 2 fb of LHC data at 7 TeV

The recent up to ∼2 fb−1 of data from the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at 7 TeV put an upper bound on the production cross section of a Higgs-like particle. We translate the results of the H→WW→lνlν and H→γγ as well as the combined analysis by the ATLAS and CMS into an allowed region for the Kaluza-Klein (KK) mass MKK and the Higgs mass MH for all the known Universal Extra Dimension (UED) models in five and six dimensions. Our bound is insensitive to the detailed KK mass splitting and mixing and hence complementary to all other known signatures.     

Correlations and static energies in the standard Higgs model

Correlations in the W-boson and Higgs boson channels and the static energy of an external SU(2) doublet charge pair are investigated by Monte Carlo calculations in the SU(2) lattice gauge theory with a scalar Higgs doublet field. The mass ratio m_W/m_H and the shape of the static potential are used to obtain information on the renormalization group trajectories in the three-dimensional coupling constant space. As a function of an appropriately chosen varibale, the measured quantities are, within errors, independent from the scalar self-coupling (λ) in a wide range 0.1 ⩽ λ ⩽ ∝. In the Higgs phase, a lower bound m_W/m_H ⩾ (1.0 ± 0.3) is obtained for the ratio of the Higgs boson mass to the W-boson mass.     

A numerical estimate of the upper limit for the Higgs boson mass

TheSU (2) Higgs model with a scalar doublet field is studied by Monte Carlo calculations on 12⁴ and 16⁴ lattices. The gauge coupling is chosen to be similar in magnitude to the physical value in the standard model. The numerical results at large scalar self-coupling imply an upper limitm _H /m _W ?9 for the ratio of the Higgs boson mass to the W-mass.     

A minimal dark matter interpretation for the CRESST-II signal

We report on the possible interpretation of the two proposed dark matter mass values m _?? =11.6 GeV and m _?? =25.3 GeV from CRESST-II within the framework of the Higgs portal minimal dark matter model. We find that the higher mass value yields a suitable fit with a dark matter-Higgs coupling ??/2=0.157 and a recoil cross section which is compatible with contemporary estimates of the effective Higgs?Cnucleon coupling. On the other hand, the lower mass solution would require a large strangeness component in the nucleon to explain the corresponding nucleon recoil cross section reported by CRESST-II.     

On the metastability of the Standard Model vacuum

If the Higgs mass m_H is as low as suggested by present experimental information, the Standard Model ground state might not be absolutely stable. We present a detailed analysis of the lower bounds on m_H imposed by the requirement that the electroweak vacuum be sufficiently long-lived. We perform a complete one-loop calculation of the tunnelling probability at zero temperature, and we improve it by means of two-loop renormalization-group equations. We find that, for m_H=115 GeV, the Higgs potential develops an instability below the Planck scale for m_t>(166±2) GeV, but the electroweak vacuum is sufficiently long-lived for m_t<(175±2) GeV.     

Model-independent determination of the top Yukawa coupling from LHC and ILC

We show how a measurement of the process pp→tt̄H⁰+X at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and a measurement of the Higgs boson branching ratios BR(H⁰→bb̄) and BR(H⁰→W⁺W^-) at a future linear electron positron collider (ILC) can be combined to extract a value of the top quark Yukawa coupling in a model-independent way. We find that for masses with 120 GeV/c²<m_H<200 GeV/c² a measurement precision of 15% including systematic uncertainties can be achieved for integrated luminosities of 300 fb^-1 at the LHC and 500 fb^-1 at the ILC at a centre-of-mass energy of 350 GeV.     

Hidden sector effects on double Higgs production near threshold at the LHC

In this Letter we study a novel effect of a hidden sector coupling to the standard model Higgs boson: an enhancement of the Higgs pair production cross section near threshold due to bound state effects. After summing the ladder contributions of the hidden sector to the effective ggHH coupling, we find the amplitude for gluon-gluon scattering via a Higgs loop. We relate this amplitude to the double Higgs production cross section via the optical theorem. We find that enhancements of the O(100) for the partonic cross section near the threshold region can be obtained for a hidden sector strongly coupled to the Higgs boson. The corresponding cross section at the LHC can be as large as O(10) times the SM result for extreme values of the coupling. The detection of such an effect could in principle lead to important information about the hidden sector.     

Cosmic rays through the Higgs portal

We consider electroweak singlet dark matter with a mass comparable to the Higgs mass. The singlet is assumed to couple to standard matter through a perturbative coupling to the Higgs particle. The annihilation of a singlet in the mass range m_Sm_h is dominated by proximity to the W, Z and Higgs peaks in the annihilation cross section. We find that the continuous photon spectrum from annihilation of perturbatively coupled singlets in the galactic halo can reach a level of several per mil of the EGRET diffuse γ ray flux.     

Search for a standard model Higgs boson in CMS via vector boson fusion in the H→WW→lνlν channel

We present the potential for discovering the standard model Higgs boson produced via the vector-boson fusion mechanism. We considered the decay of Higgs bosons to the W⁺W^- final state, with both W-bosons subsequently decaying leptonically. The main background is tt̄ produced in association with one or more jets. This study is based on a full simulation of the CMS detector. The result is that a signal of 5σ significance can be obtained with an integrated luminosity of 12–72 fb^-1 for Higgs boson masses in the range 130<m_H< 200 GeV. In addition, the major background can be measured directly to 7% from the data with an integrated luminosity of 30 fb^-1. We also suggest a method to determine the Higgs mass using template transverse mass distributions. PACS 14.80.Bn     

MSSM Higgs searches in multi-b-jet final states at the LHC

This paper discusses the possibility to observe a signal from MSSM Higgs boson decays into final states containing four b-jets. Two specific channels are considered: bb?H and bb?A production with H,A → bb?, for large values of m_H, m_A and tan β, and H → hh → bb?bb? decays for 150 GeV < m_H < 2m_t and for low values of tan β. Both channels are difficult to extract because of the very large reducible and irreducible QCD backgrounds. Even with an ultimate integrated luminosity, expected per LHC experiment, of 3 · 10⁵ pb^-1, the region of the MSSM parameter space covered by these channels does not extend the reach beyond that accessible to other channels that were studied in the past. Nevertheless, their observation would help in constraining the couplings and branching ratios of the MSSM Higgs bosons.     

Heavy SUSY Higgs bosons at e + e − linear colliders

The production mechanisms and decay modes of the heavy neutral and charged Higgs bosons in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model are investigated at future e ⁺ e ^? colliders in the TeV energy regime. We generate supersymmetric particle spectra by requiring the MSSM Higgs potential to produce correct radiative electroweak symmetry breaking, and we assume a common scalar mass m₀, gaugino mass m_1/2 and trilinear coupling A, as well as gauge and Yukawa coupling unification at the Grand Unification scale. Particular emphasis is put on the low tan β solution in this scenario where decays of the Higgs bosons to Standard Model particles compete with decays to supersymmetric charginos/neutralinos as well as sfermions. In the high tan β case, the supersymmetric spectrum is either too heavy or the supersymmetric decay modes are suppressed, since the Higgs bosons decay almost exclusively into b and τ pairs. The main production mechanisms for the heavy Higgs particles are the associated AH production and H ⁺H^? pair production with cross sections of the order of a few fb.