Abstract
In this paper, we investigate sizeable interference effects between a heavy charged Higgs boson signal produced dominantly via \( gg\to t\overline{b}{H}^{-} \) (+ c.c.) followed by the decay \( {H}^{-}\to b\overline{t} \) (+ c.c.) and the irreducible background given by \( pp\to t\overline{t}b\overline{b} \) topologies at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We show that it may be possible that such effects could spoil current H± searches where signal and background are normally treated separately. The reason for this is that a heavy charged Higgs boson can have a large total width, in turn enabling such interferences, altogether leading to potentially very significant alterations, both at the inclusive and exclusive level, of the yield induced by the signal alone. This therefore implies that currently established LHC searches for such wide charged Higgs bosons might require modifications. We show such effects quantitatively using two different benchmark configurations of the minimal realisation of Supersymmetry, wherein such H± states naturally exist. However, on the basis of the limited computing resources available, we are unable to always bring the statistical error down to a level where all such interference effects are unequivocal, so that we advocate dedicated experimental analyses to confirm this with higher statistics data samples.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
ATLAS collaboration, Observation of a new particle in the search for the standard model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, Phys. Lett. B 716 (2012) 1 [arXiv:1207.7214] [INSPIRE].
CMS collaboration, Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC, Phys. Lett. B 716 (2012) 30 [arXiv:1207.7235] [INSPIRE].
ATLAS, CMS collaboration, Combined measurement of the Higgs boson mass in pp collisions at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 7 and 8 TeV with the ATLAS and CMS experiments, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114 (2015) 191803 [arXiv:1503.07589] [INSPIRE].
ATLAS, CMS collaboration, Measurements of the Higgs boson production and decay rates and constraints on its couplings from a combined ATLAS and CMS analysis of the LHC pp collision data at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 7 and 8 TeV, JHEP 08 (2016) 045 [arXiv:1606.02266] [INSPIRE].
S. Moretti and S. Khalil, Supersymmetry beyond minimality: from theory to experiment, CRC Press, U.S.A. (2017).
H.P. Nilles, Supersymmetry, supergravity and particle physics, Phys. Rept. 110 (1984) 1 [INSPIRE].
H.E. Haber and G.L. Kane, The search for supersymmetry: probing physics beyond the standard model, Phys. Rept. 117 (1985) 75 [INSPIRE].
V.D. Barger, R.J.N. Phillips and D.P. Roy, Heavy charged Higgs signals at the LHC, Phys. Lett. B 324 (1994) 236 [hep-ph/9311372] [INSPIRE].
J.F. Gunion, H.E. Haber, F.E. Paige, W.-K. Tung and S.S.D. Willenbrock, Neutral and charged Higgs detection: heavy quark fusion, top quark mass dependence and rare decays, Nucl. Phys. B 294 (1987) 621 [INSPIRE].
R. Barnett, H.E. Haber and D.E. Soper, Ultraheavy particle production from heavy partons at hadron colliders, Nucl. Phys. B 306 (1988) 697 [INSPIRE].
J.L. Diaz-Cruz and O.A. Sampayo, Contribution of gluon fusion to the production of charged Higgs at hadron colliders, Phys. Rev. D 50 (1994) 6820 [INSPIRE].
F. Borzumati, J.-L. Kneur and N. Polonsky, Higgs-strahlung and R-parity violating slepton-Strahlung at hadron colliders, Phys. Rev. D 60 (1999) 115011 [hep-ph/9905443] [INSPIRE].
K.A. Assamagan, M. Guchait and S. Moretti, Charged Higgs bosons in the transition region M (H ±) ∼ mt at the LHC, hep-ph/0402057 [INSPIRE].
M. Guchait and S. Moretti, Improving the discovery potential of charged Higgs bosons at Tevatron run II, JHEP 01 (2002) 001 [hep-ph/0110020] [INSPIRE].
A.G. Akeroyd et al., Prospects for charged Higgs searches at the LHC, Eur. Phys. J. C 77 (2017) 276 [arXiv:1607.01320] [INSPIRE].
ATLAS collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons decaying via H ± → τ ± ν in fully hadronic final states using pp collision data at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector, JHEP 03 (2015) 088 [arXiv:1412.6663] [INSPIRE].
CMS collaboration, Search for a charged Higgs boson in pp collisions at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 8 TeV, JHEP 11 (2015) 018 [arXiv:1508.07774] [INSPIRE].
CMS collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons in the H± → τ ± ντ decay channel in proton-proton collisions at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 13 TeV, JHEP 07 (2019) 142 [arXiv:1903.04560] [INSPIRE].
ATLAS collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons decaying via H ± → τ ± ντ in the τ + jets and τ + lepton final states with 36 fb−1 of pp collision data recorded at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment, JHEP 09 (2018) 139 [arXiv:1807.07915] [INSPIRE].
D.J. Miller, S. Moretti, D.P. Roy and W. Stirling, Detecting heavy charged Higgs bosons at the CERN LHC with four b quark tags, Phys. Rev. D 61 (2000) 055011 [hep-ph/9906230] [INSPIRE].
S. Moretti and D.P. Roy, Detecting heavy charged Higgs bosons at the LHC with triple b tagging, Phys. Lett. B 470 (1999) 209 [hep-ph/9909435] [INSPIRE].
ATLAS collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons produced in association with a top quark and decaying via H ± → τ ν using pp collision data recorded at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector, Phys. Lett. B 759 (2016) 555 [arXiv:1603.09203] [INSPIRE].
CMS collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons with the H ± → τ ± ντ decay channel in the fully hadronic final state at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 13 TeV, CMS-PAS-HIG-16-031 (2016).
ATLAS collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons in the H ± → tb decay channel in pp collisions at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 13 TeV using the ATLAS detector, ATLAS-CONF-2016-089 (2016).
ATLAS collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons decaying into top and bottom quarks at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector, JHEP 11 (2018) 085 [arXiv:1808.03599] [INSPIRE].
F. Moortgat, S. Abdullin and D. Denegri, Observability of MSSM Higgs bosons via sparticle decay modes in CMS, hep-ph/0112046 [INSPIRE].
M. Bisset, N. Kersting, J. Li, F. Moortgat, S. Moretti and Q.L. Xie, Pair-produced heavy particle topologies: MSSM neutralino properties at the LHC from gluino/squark cascade decays, Eur. Phys. J. C 45 (2006) 477 [hep-ph/0501157] [INSPIRE].
M. Bisset, M. Guchait and S. Moretti, Signatures of MSSM charged Higgs bosons via chargino neutralino decay channels at the LHC, Eur. Phys. J. C 19 (2001) 143 [hep-ph/0010253] [INSPIRE].
M. Bisset, F. Moortgat and S. Moretti, Trilepton + top signal from chargino neutralino decays of MSSM charged Higgs bosons at the LHC, Eur. Phys. J. C 30 (2003) 419 [hep-ph/0303093] [INSPIRE].
A. Arhrib, R. Benbrik, S. Moretti, R. Santos and P. Sharma, Signal to background interference in pp → tH − → tW − \( b\overline{b} \) at the LHC Run-II, Phys. Rev. D 97 (2018) 075037 [arXiv:1712.05018] [INSPIRE].
S. Heinemeyer, W. Hollik and G. Weiglein, The masses of the neutral CP-even Higgs bosons in the MSSM: accurate analysis at the two loop level, Eur. Phys. J. C 9 (1999) 343 [hep-ph/9812472] [INSPIRE].
S. Heinemeyer, W. Hollik and G. Weiglein, QCD corrections to the masses of the neutral CP-even Higgs bosons in the MSSM, Phys. Rev. D 58 (1998) 091701 [hep-ph/9803277] [INSPIRE].
S. Heinemeyer, W. Hollik and G. Weiglein, Precise prediction for the mass of the lightest Higgs boson in the MSSM, Phys. Lett. B 440 (1998) 296 [hep-ph/9807423] [INSPIRE].
G. Degrassi, S. Heinemeyer, W. Hollik, P. Slavich and G. Weiglein, Towards high precision predictions for the MSSM Higgs sector, Eur. Phys. J. C 28 (2003) 133 [hep-ph/0212020] [INSPIRE].
W. Beenakker, R. Hopker and M. Spira, PROSPINO: a program for the production of supersymmetric particles in next-to-leading order QCD, hep-ph/9611232 [INSPIRE].
S. Heinemeyer, W. Hollik and G. Weiglein, FeynHiggs: a program for the calculation of the masses of the neutral CP even Higgs bosons in the MSSM, Comput. Phys. Commun. 124 (2000) 76 [hep-ph/9812320] [INSPIRE].
T. Hahn, S. Heinemeyer, W. Hollik, H. Rzehak and G. Weiglein, FeynHiggs: A program for the calculation of MSSM Higgs-boson observables — Version 2.6.5, Comput. Phys. Commun. 180 (2009) 1426 [INSPIRE].
P. Bechtle, O. Brein, S. Heinemeyer, G. Weiglein and K.E. Williams, HiggsBounds: confronting arbitrary Higgs sectors with exclusion bounds from LEP and the Tevatron, Comput. Phys. Commun. 181 (2010) 138 [arXiv:0811.4169] [INSPIRE].
P. Bechtle, O. Brein, S. Heinemeyer, G. Weiglein and K.E. Williams, HiggsBounds 2.0.0: confronting neutral and charged Higgs sector predictions with exclusion bounds from LEP and the Tevatron, Comput. Phys. Commun. 182 (2011) 2605 [arXiv:1102.1898] [INSPIRE].
P. Bechtle et al., HiggsBounds-4: improved tests of extended Higgs sectors against exclusion bounds from LEP, the Tevatron and the LHC, Eur. Phys. J. C 74 (2014) 2693 [arXiv:1311.0055] [INSPIRE].
P. Bechtle, S. Heinemeyer, O. Stal, T. Stefaniak and G. Weiglein, Applying exclusion likelihoods from LHC searches to extended Higgs sectors, Eur. Phys. J. C 75 (2015) 421 [arXiv:1507.06706] [INSPIRE].
P. Bechtle, S. Heinemeyer, O. Stål, T. Stefaniak and G. Weiglein, HiggsSignals: confronting arbitrary Higgs sectors with measurements at the Tevatron and the LHC, Eur. Phys. J. C 74 (2014) 2711 [arXiv:1305.1933] [INSPIRE].
LEP Higgs Working Group for Higgs boson searches, ALEPH, DELPHI, L3, OPAL collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons: Preliminary combined results using LEP data collected at energies up to 209-GeV, hep-ex/0107031 [INSPIRE].
DELPHI collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons at LEP in general two Higgs doublet models, Eur. Phys. J. C 34 (2004) 399 [hep-ex/0404012] [INSPIRE].
De0 collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons in top quark decays, Phys. Lett. B 682 (2009) 278 [arXiv:0908.1811] [INSPIRE].
CDF collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons in decays of top quarks in \( p\overline{p} \) collisions at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 1.9 6 TeV, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 (2009) 101803 [arXiv:0907.1269] [INSPIRE].
CDF collaboration, Search for charged Higgs boson in tt decay products, CDF Note 7712 (2005).
CDF collaboration, Search for anomalous τ production in b-tagged top quark events, CDF Note 8353 (2006).
ATLAS collaboration, Search for charged Higgs bosons decaying via H + → τ ν in top quark pair events using pp collision data at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector, JHEP 06 (2012) 039 [arXiv:1204.2760] [INSPIRE].
A. Arhrib, R. Benbrik, H. Harouiz, S. Moretti and A. Rouchad, A guidebook to hunting charged Higgs bosons at the LHC, arXiv:1810.09106 [INSPIRE].
M. Carena, S. Heinemeyer, O. Stål, C.E.M. Wagner and G. Weiglein, MSSM Higgs boson searches at the LHC: benchmark scenarios after the discovery of a Higgs-like particle, Eur. Phys. J. C 73 (2013) 2552 [arXiv:1302.7033] [INSPIRE].
A. Djouadi, L. Maiani, G. Moreau, A. Polosa, J. Quevillon and V. Riquer, The post-Higgs MSSM scenario: Habemus MSSM?, Eur. Phys. J. C 73 (2013) 2650 [arXiv:1307.5205] [INSPIRE].
L. Maiani, A.D. Polosa and V. Riquer, Probing Minimal supersymmetry at the LHC with the Higgs boson masses, New J. Phys. 14 (2012) 073029 [arXiv:1202.5998] [INSPIRE].
L. Maiani, A.D. Polosa and V. Riquer, Heavier Higgs particles: indications from minimal supersymmetry, Phys. Lett. B 718 (2012) 465 [arXiv:1209.4816] [INSPIRE].
A. Djouadi and J. Quevillon, The MSSM higgs sector at a high MSUSY: reopening the low tan β regime and heavy Higgs searches, JHEP 10 (2013) 028 [arXiv:1304.1787] [INSPIRE].
A. Djouadi, L. Maiani, A. Polosa, J. Quevillon and V. Riquer, Fully covering the MSSM Higgs sector at the LHC, JHEP 06 (2015) 168 [arXiv:1502.05653] [INSPIRE].
S. Heinemeyer, W. Hollik and G. Weiglein, Constraints on tan Beta in the MSSM from the upper bound on the mass of the lightest Higgs boson, JHEP 06 (2000) 009 [hep-ph/9909540] [INSPIRE].
A. Djouadi, J. Kalinowski and M. Spira, HDECAY: a program for Higgs boson decays in the standard model and its supersymmetric extension, Comput. Phys. Commun. 108 (1998) 56 [hep-ph/9704448] [INSPIRE].
A. Djouadi, J. Kalinowski, M. Muehlleitner and M. Spira, HDECAY: Twenty++ years after, Comput. Phys. Commun. 238 (2019) 214 [arXiv:1801.09506] [INSPIRE].
J. Alwall et al., The automated computation of tree-level and next-to-leading order differential cross sections, and their matching to parton shower simulations, JHEP 07 (2014) 079 [arXiv:1405.0301] [INSPIRE].
T. Sjöstrand et al., An introduction to PYTHIA 8.2, Comput. Phys. Commun. 191 (2015) 159 [arXiv:1410.3012] [INSPIRE].
DELPHES 3 collaboration, DELPHES 3, a modular framework for fast simulation of a generic collider experiment, JHEP 02 (2014) 057 [arXiv:1307.6346] [INSPIRE].
M. Cacciari, G.P. Salam and G. Soyez, The anti-kt jet clustering algorithm, JHEP 04 (2008) 063 [arXiv:0802.1189] [INSPIRE].
K.J.F. Gaemers and F. Hoogeveen, Higgs production and decay into heavy flavours with the gluon fusion mechanism, Phys. Lett. B 146 (1984) 347.
D. Dicus, A. Stange and S. Willenbrock, Higgs decay to top quarks at hadron colliders, Phys. Lett. B 333 (1994) 126 [hep-ph/9404359] [INSPIRE].
S. Jung, Y.W. Yoon and J. Song, Interference effect on a heavy Higgs resonance signal in the γγ and ZZ channels, Phys. Rev. D 93 (2016) 055035 [arXiv:1510.03450] [INSPIRE].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
ArXiv ePrint: 1905.02635
Rights and permissions
Open Access . This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
Arhrib, A., Azevedo, D., Benbrik, R. et al. Signal versus background interference in \( {H}^{+}\to t\overline{b} \) signals for MSSM benchmark scenarios. J. High Energ. Phys. 2020, 209 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2020)209
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2020)209