Higgs boson production in association with a photon in vector boson fusion at the LHC

Abstract

Higgs boson production in association with two forward jets and a central photon at the CERN Large Hadron Collider is analyzed, for the Higgs boson decaying into a b b ¯ pair in the m H ≲ 140 GeV mass region. We study both irreducible and main reducible backgrounds at parton level. Compared to the Higgs production via vector-boson fusion, the request of a further photon at moderate rapidities dramatically enhances the signal/background ratio. Inclusive cross sections for p T γ ≳ 20 GeV can reach a few tens of fb's. After a suitable choice of kinematical cuts, the cross section ratio for signal and irreducible-background can be enhanced up to ≳ 1 / 10 , with a signal cross section of the order of a few fb's, for m H ∼ 120 GeV . The request of a central photon radiation also enhances the relative signal sensitivity to the WWH coupling with respect to the ZZH coupling. Hence, a determination of the cross section for the associated production of a Higgs boson decaying into a b b ¯ pair plus a central photon in vector-boson fusion could help in constraining the b b ¯ H coupling, and the WWH coupling as well. A preliminary study of QCD showering effects points to a further significant improvement of the signal detectability over the background.