Abstract
We give a general decomposition of the h→VF amplitude where V={W±,Z0} and F is a generic leptonic or hadronic final state, in the standard model (SM), and in the context of a general effective field theory. The differential distributions for F=ℓ+ℓ−, ℓν¯(ℓ=e,μ) are reported, and we show how such distributions can be used to determine modified Higgs couplings that cannot be directly extracted from a global fit to Higgs signal strengths. We also demonstrate how rare h→VP decays, where P is a pseudo-scalar meson, with SM rates in the 10−5 range, can be used to provide complementary information on the couplings of the newly discovered Higgs-like scalar and are an interesting probe of the vacuum structure of the theory.
Highlights
Characterizing the properties of the newly discovered scalar boson at the LHC [1] is of central importance to determine experimentally the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking, and to investigate the possibility of physics beyond the Standard Model (SM)
It allows one to measure decays to final states F that would not be accessible if on-shell decays were allowed, and the additional decay channels increase the sensitivity to new-physics (NP) effects, as they affect kinematic distributions of F in addition to the total rate
In the two-lepton case, most of the interesting information is encoded in the two-dimensional kinematical distributions of the leptons in the Higgs rest frame. We analyze such distributions both in the standard model (SM), and in the context of a general effective field theory (EFT) approach, neglecting lepton masses. We show that these distributions, which will soon be accessible at the LHC with increasing statistics, contain information that cannot be directly extracted from a global fit to signal strengths
Summary
Characterizing the properties of the newly discovered scalar boson at the LHC [1] is of central importance to determine experimentally the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking, and to investigate the possibility of physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). It allows one to measure decays to final states F that would not be accessible if on-shell decays were allowed, and the additional decay channels increase the sensitivity to new-physics (NP) effects, as they affect kinematic distributions of F in addition to the total rate We demonstrate this conclusion using two examples: (a) F is a pair of light leptons + − or ν, with = e, μ, and (b) F = P is a hadronic state composed of a single pseudoscalar or vector meson. In the two-lepton case, most of the interesting information is encoded in the two-dimensional kinematical distributions of the leptons in the Higgs rest frame We analyze such distributions both in the SM, and in the context of a general effective field theory (EFT) approach, neglecting lepton masses. In the h → V P case we show how these rare processes, with SM rates in the 10−5 range, can provide a complementary tool to extract Higgs properties not accessible from the purely leptonic modes
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