Fully differential vector-boson fusion Higgs pair production at next-to-next-to-leading order

Frédéric A Dreyer,Alexander Karlberg

doi:10.1103/physrevd.99.074028

Frédéric A Dreyer, Alexander Karlberg

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.99.074028

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Abstract

We calculate the fully differential next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to vector-boson fusion (VBF) Higgs pair production. This calculation is achieved in the limit in which there is no colored cross-talk between the colliding protons, using the projection-to-Born method. We present differential cross sections of key observables, showing corrections of up to 3-4% at this order after typical VBF cuts, with the total cross section receiving contributions of about 2%. In contrast to single Higgs VBF production, we find that the NNLO corrections are for the most part within the next-to-leading order scale uncertainty bands.

Highlights

Since the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson [1,2], one of the focuses of the experimental program of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been the measurement of its couplings to fermions, to other bosons, and to itself
In contrast to single Higgs vectorboson fusion (VBF) production, we find that the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) corrections are for the most part within the next-to-leading order scale uncertainty bands
The VBF production mode is of particular interest in di-Higgs production: due to the presence of two tagging jets, one can significantly reduce the large backgrounds through an appropriate choice of cuts; it provides a unique sensitivity to deviations from the standard model (SM) in the trilinear Higgs coupling [17], and is the most promising channel for measurements of the hhVV quartic coupling at the LHC [18]

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Since the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson [1,2], one of the focuses of the experimental program of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been the measurement of its couplings to fermions, to other bosons, and to itself. We present for the first time the calculation of di-Higgs production to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in perturbative QCD for differential cross sections, which is the first of this type for a 2 → 4 process This brings the VBF Higgs pair production channel to the same accuracy as double Higgs gluon-gluon fusion production [28,29]. These results are achieved using the deep inelastic scattering (DIS) approximation, which corresponds to the limit in which there is no colored cross-talk between the two colliding protons.

CALCULATION SETUP

RESULTS

10-1 VBF CUTS

OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS

CONCLUSIONS