On-shell interference effects in Higgs boson final states

Englert, C. , Low, I. and Spannowsky, M. (2015) On-shell interference effects in Higgs boson final states. Physical Review D, 91(7), 074029. (doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.91.074029)

Abstract

Top quark loops in Higgs production via gluon fusion at large invariant final state masses can induce important interference effects in searches for additional Higgs bosons as predicted in, e.g., Higgs portal scenarios and the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model when the heavy scalar is broad or the final state resolution is poor. Currently, the limit setting as performed by both ATLAS and CMS is based on injecting a heavy Higgs-like signal neglecting interference effects. In this paper, we perform a study of such “on-shell” interference effects in pp→ZZ and find that they lead to a ≲O(30%) width scheme-dependent modification of the signal strength. Including the continuum contributions to obtain, e.g., the full pp→ZZ→4ℓ final state, this modification is reduced to the 10% level in the considered intermediate mass range.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Englert, Professor Christoph
• Authors: Englert, C., Low, I., and Spannowsky, M.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Physical Review D
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• ISSN: 1550-7998
• ISSN (Online): 1550-2368
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2015 American Physical Society
• First Published: First published in Physical Review D 91(7):074209
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.