Higgs Precision Measurements Research Articles

The N2HDM under theoretical and experimental scrutiny

The N2HDM is based on the CP-conserving 2HDM extended by a real scalar singlet field. Its enlarged parameter space and its fewer symmetry conditions as compared to supersymmetric models allow for an interesting phenomenology compatible with current experimental constraints, while adding to the 2HDM sector the possibility of Higgs-to-Higgs decays with three different Higgs bosons. In this paper the N2HDM is subjected to detailed scrutiny. Regarding the theoretical constraints we implement tests of tree-level perturbativity and vacuum stability. Moreover, we present, for the first time, a thorough analysis of the global minimum of the N2HDM. The model and the theoretical constraints have been implemented in ScannerS, and we provide N2HDECAY, a code based on HDECAY, for the computation of the N2HDM branching ratios and total widths including the state-of-the-art higher order QCD corrections and off-shell decays. We then perform an extensive parameter scan in the N2HDM parameter space, with all theoretical and experimental constraints applied, and analyse its allowed regions. We find that large singlet admixtures are still compatible with the Higgs data and investigate which observables will allow to restrict the singlet nature most effectively in the next runs of the LHC. Similarly to the 2HDM, the N2HDM exhibits a wrong-sign parameter regime, which will be constrained by future Higgs precision measurements.

The Z b b ¯ $$ Zb\overline{b} $$ couplings at future e + e − colliders

Many new physics models predict sizable modifications to the SM Zbb couplings, while the corresponding measurements at LEP and SLC exhibit some discrepancy with the SM predictions. After updating the current results on the Zbb coupling constraints from global fits, we list the observables that are most important for improving the Zbb coupling constraints and estimate the expected precision reach of three proposed future e+e- colliders, CEPC, ILC and FCC-ee. We consider both the case that the results are SM-like and the one that the Zbb couplings deviate significantly from the SM predictions. We show that, if we assume the value of the Zbb couplings to be within 68% CL of the current measurements, any one of the three colliders will be able to rule out the SM with more than 99.9999% CL (5 sigma). We study the implications of the improved Zbb coupling constraints on new physics models, and point out their complementarity with the constraints from the direct search of new physics particles at the LHC, as well as with Higgs precision measurements. Our results provide a further motivation for the construction of future e+e- colliders.

Flavor from the electroweak scale

We discuss the possibility that flavor hierarchies arise from the electroweak scale in a two Higgs doublet model, in which the two Higgs doublets jointly act as the flavon. Quark masses and mixing angles are explained by effective Yukawa couplings, generated by higher dimensional operators involving quarks and Higgs doublets. Modified Higgs couplings yield important effects on the production cross sections and decay rates of the light Standard Model like Higgs. In addition, flavor changing neutral currents arise at tree-level and lead to strong constraints from meson-antimeson mixing. Remarkably, flavor constraints turn out to prefer a region in parameter space that is in excellent agreement with the one preferred by recent Higgs precision measurements at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Direct searches for extra scalars at the LHC lead to further constraints. Precise predictions for the production and decay modes of the additional Higgs bosons are derived, and we present benchmark scenarios for searches at the LHC Run II. Flavor breaking at the electroweak scale as well as strong coupling effects demand a UV completion at the scale of a few TeV, possibly within the reach of the LHC.

Holographic twin Higgs model.

We present the first realization of a "twin Higgs" model as a holographic composite Higgs model. Uniquely among composite Higgs models, the Higgs potential is protected by a new standard model (SM) singlet elementary "mirror" sector at the sigma model scale f and not by the composite states at m_{KK}, naturally allowing for m_{KK} beyond the LHC reach. As a result, naturalness in our model cannot be constrained by the LHC, but may be probed by precision Higgs measurements at future lepton colliders, and by direct searches for Kaluza-Klein excitations at a 100 TeV collider.

Recent results from CMS

The CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN collected a dataset of 19.5fb −1 during 8 TeV proton-proton operation. A large number of groundbreaking results were obtained from the analysis of this dataset, among them the discovery of the Higgs boson and precision measurements of important Standard Model parameters, for example the mass of the top quark. Subtle processes like the production of a Z boson by fusion of two W bosons have been measured for the first time. Moreover, many searches for physics beyond the Standard model have been carried out, both in the context of supersymmetry and beyond, which often provide tight constraints in model parameter space. This brief summary is a a short overview of the most important recent CMS results at 7 and 8 TeV.

Strong Higgs interactions at a linear collider

We study the impact of Higgs precision measurements at a high-energy and high-luminosity linear electron positron collider, such as CLIC or the ILC, on the parameter space of a strongly interacting Higgs boson. Some combination of anomalous couplings are already tightly constrained by current fits to electroweak observables. However, even small deviations in the cross sections of single and double Higgs production, or the mere detection of a triple Higgs final state, can help establish whether it is a composite state and whether or not it emerges as a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson from an underlying broken symmetry. We obtain an estimate of the ILC and CLIC sensitivities on the anomalous Higgs couplings from a study of WW scattering and hh production which can be translated into a sensitivity on the compositeness scale 4\pi f, or equivalently on the degree of compositeness \xi=v^2/f^2. We summarize the current experimental constraints, from electroweak data and direct resonance searches, and the expected reach of the LHC and CLIC on \xi and on the scale of the new resonances.

Minimal signatures of naturalness

Abstract We study the naturalness problem using a model independent bottom up approach by considering models where only the interaction terms needed to cancel the Higgs quadratic divergences are present. If quadratic divergences are canceled by terms linear in the Higgs field, then the collider phenomenology is well covered by current electroweakino and fourth generation searches. If quadratic divergences are canceled by terms bilinear in the Higgs field, then the signatures are highly dependent on the quantum numbers of the new particles. Precision Higgs measurements can reveal the presence of new particles with either vevs or Standard Model charges. If the new particles are scalar dark matter candidates, their direct and indirect detection signatures will be highly correlated and within the reach of XENON100 and Fermi. Observation at one of these experiments would imply observation at the other one. Observable LHC decay channels can also arise if the new particles mix with lighter states. This decay channel involves only the Higgs boson and not the gauge bosons. Observation of such decays would give evidence that the new particle is tied to the naturalness problem.

Precision Higgs measurements: constraints from new oblique corrections

New particles entering into self-energies of the Higgs boson would necessarily modify loop-induced couplings of the Higgs, if the new particle carries standard model gauge quantum numbers. For a 1 TeV new particle, deviations in these "Higgs oblique corrections" are generically of the order of v^2/(1 TeV)^2 ~ 5%. We study constraints on masses and couplings of new scalars and fermions that can be derived from 5-10% deviations in the Higgs digluon and diphoton partial widths. To reduce theoretical uncertainties, we present next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the Higgs-to-digluon coupling for scalars and fermions in arbitrary representations of SU(3) color group, by applying the low-energy Higgs theorems at two-loop order. As a by-product we provide a new value for NLO QCD corrections to the top squark contributions to digluon decays that differs from existing literature. We also emphasize that precise measurements of Higgs couplings to W boson and top quark are prerequisite to precise determinations of Higgs oblique corrections from new particles.

Inspecting the Higgs for new weakly interacting particles

We explore new physics scenarios which are optimally probed through precision Higgs measurements rather than direct collider searches. Such theories consist of additional electroweak charged or singlet states which couple directly to or mix with the Higgs boson; particles of this kind may be weakly constrained by direct limits due to their meager production rates and soft decay products. We present a simplified framework which characterizes the effects of these states on Higgs physics by way of tree level mixing (with neutral scalars) and loop level modifications (from electrically charged states), all expressed in terms of three mixing angles and three loop parameters, respectively. The theory parameters are constrained and in some cases even fixed by ratios of Higgs production and decay rates. Our setup is simpler than a general effective operator analysis, in that we discard parameters irrelevant to Higgs observables while retaining complex correlations among measurements that arise due to the underlying mixing and radiative effects. We show that certain correlated observations are forbidden, e.g. a depleted ratio of Higgs production from gluon fusion versus vector boson fusion together with a depleted ratio of Higgs decays to bb versus WW. Moreover, we study the strong correlation between the Higgs decay rate to gamma gamma and WW and how it can be violated in the presence of additional electrically charged particles. Our formalism maps straightforwardly onto a variety of new physics models, such as the NMSSM. We show, for example, that with a Higgsino of mass > 100 GeV and a singlet-Higgs coupling of lambda=0.7, the photon signal strength can deviate from the vector signal strength by up to ~ 40-60% while depleting the vector signal strength by only 5-15% relative to the Standard Model.

The scalar sector in an extended electroweak gauge symmetry model

The scalar sector of the linear formulation of the degenerate BESS model is analyzed. The model predicts two additional scalar states which mix with the SM Higgs. As a consequence the properties of the SM Higgs are modified and Higgs precision measurements can constrain the mixing angle. One of the two additional Higgses has no coupling to fermions and suppressed couplings to ordinary gauge bosons, therefore its detection is difficult. The production of the other two Higgses at future e+e− linear colliders in the Higgstrahlung and fusion channels is investigated.

Probing the mechanism of EWSB with a rho-parameter defined in terms of Higgs couplings

A definition of the rho-parameter based on the Higgs couplings with the gauge bosons, ρHi≡gHiWW/(gHiZZc2W), is proposed as a new probe into the origin of the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking. While ρhSM=1 holds in the standard model, deviations from one for ρHi are predicted in models with extended Higgs sector. We derive a general expression of ρHi for a model with arbitrary Higgs multiplets, and discuss its size within the context of specific models with Higgs triplets, including the “Little Higgs” models recently proposed. We find the even for Higgs sectors that incorporate the custodial symmetry to make ρ=1, one could have ρHi≠1, which could be tested at the level of a few percent, with the precision Higgs measurements expected at the next linear collider (NLC).