2007/03/22 by A. Martin, Adam Martin, Martin, Adam
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-ph/0703247
8 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2007/03/22 · openalex publication_date 2007/03/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2020/02/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Extra light electroweak singlets can dramatically alter Higgs decays by introducing additional decay modes, h→ aa. In scenarios where cascade decays h→ aa→ 4X, X≠ b, b dominate, the Higgs will escape conventional searches and may be as light as 82 \gev. In this paper we investigate the discovery potential of the mode h→ aa→ 2γ2g through direct (pp→ h) and associated (pp → W±h) Higgs production at the LHC. Our search covers all kinematically allowed singlet masses for ∼ 80 \gev ≤ mh < 160 \gev and assumes an integrated luminosity \CL = 300 \rm fb-1. We find associated production, despite a smaller production cross section, to be the better mode. A branching ratio BR(h→ 2γ2g) ≅ 0.04 is sufficient for discovery in the bulk of our search window. Given the same luminosity and branching ratio 0.04, direct detection fails to discover a Higgs anywhere in our search window. Discovery in the limited region mh > 120 \gev, ma ∼ 25 \gev is possible with direct production when the branching ratio is \simge 0.06.