Higgs bosons with large transverse momentum at the LHC

Kirill Kudashkin,Jonas M Lindert,Kirill Melnikov,Christopher Wever

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2018.05.009

Kirill Kudashkin, Jonas M Lindert + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2018.05.009

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Abstract

We compute the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the production of Higgs bosons with large transverse momentum p⊥≫2mt at the LHC. To accomplish this, we combine the two-loop amplitudes for processes gg→Hg, qg→Hq and qq¯→Hg, recently computed in the approximation of nearly massless top quarks, with the numerical calculation of the squared one-loop amplitudes for gg→Hgg, qg→Hqg and qq¯→Hgg processes. The latter computation is performed with OpenLoops. We find that the QCD corrections to the Higgs transverse momentum distribution at very high p⊥ are large but quite similar to the QCD corrections obtained for point-like Hgg coupling. Our result removes one of the largest sources of theoretical uncertainty in the description of high-p⊥ Higgs boson production and opens a way to use the high-p⊥ region to search for physics beyond the Standard Model.

Highlights

Detailed exploration of the Higgs boson is one of the central tasks of the particle physics program at the LHC
In the Standard Model, the g g H interaction vertex is almost entirely generated by the top quark loops and, since the top Yukawa coupling in the Standard Model is fully determined by the top quark mass, it appears that the g g H coupling is fully predictable
The two-loop amplitudes for the production of the Higgs boson at high-p⊥ were computed [16]. This result enables calculation of the Higgs boson transverse momentum distribution for p⊥ > 2mt at NLO QCD, that we report in this Letter

Summary

Introduction

The fact that radiative corrections are large is almost guaranteed, the important question is by how much they differ if the high-p⊥ tail of the Higgs transverse momentum distribution is computed with the point-like or “resolved” Higgs–gluon vertex This is the question that we attempt to answer in this paper. It is clear that the low statistics issue, that was mentioned in the first and second points above, can only be overcome by collecting higher integrated luminosity; luckily, the LHC will continue doing that It should be possible, already to perform relevant measurements in the high-p⊥ region if one does not lose so much statistics by insisting that the produced Higgs bosons should decay into clean final states.

Computational setup

Results

Conclusions