Inadequacy of zero-width approximation for a light Higgs boson signal

Abstract

In the Higgs search at the LHC, a light Higgs boson (115 GeV <~ M_H <~ 130 GeV) is not excluded by experimental data. In this mass range, the width of the Standard Model Higgs boson is more than four orders of magnitude smaller than its mass. The zero-width approximation is hence expected to be an excellent approximation. We show that this is not always the case. The inclusion of off-shell contributions is essential to obtain an accurate Higgs signal normalisation at the 1% precision level. For gg (-> H) -> VV, V= W,Z, O(10%) corrections occur due to an enhanced Higgs signal in the region M_VV > 2 M_V, where also sizable Higgs-continuum interference occurs. We discuss how experimental selection cuts can be used to exclude this region in search channels where the Higgs invariant mass cannot be reconstructed. We note that the H -> VV decay modes in weak boson fusion are similarly affected.

26 pages, 18 figures, 6 tables; added references, expanded introduction, version to appear in JHEP

References in corpus (40)

• Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
• Parton distributions for the LHC
• An NNLO subtraction formalism in hadron collisions and its application to Higgs boson production at the LHC
• Vector boson pair production at the LHC
• Combined results of searches for the standard model Higgs boson in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
• NLO Electroweak Corrections to Higgs Boson Production at Hadron Colliders
• Precise predictions for the Higgs-boson decay H -> W W/Z Z -> 4 leptons
• Parton Distributions for LHC
• NNLO predictions for the Higgs boson signal in the H->WW->lnu lnu and H->ZZ->4l decay channels
• Higgs production via gluon-gluon fusion with finite top mass beyond next-to-leading order
• Higher-Order threshold effects to inclusive processes in QCD
• Top mass effects in Higgs production at next-to-next-to-leading order QCD: virtual corrections
• Combined search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
• Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the decay channel H->ZZ(*)->4l with 4.8 fb-1 of pp collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with ATLAS
• Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to a W pair in the fully leptonic final state in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
• Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the decay channel H to ZZ to 4 leptons in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
• Virtual three-loop corrections to Higgs boson production in gluon fusion for finite top quark mass
• NNLO QCD predictions for the H -> WW -> l l nu nu signal at the LHC
• Narrow-width approximation accuracy
• Higgs Pseudo-Observables, Second Riemann Sheet and All That
• Higgs production at the LHC: updated cross sections at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV
• Signal-background interference effects for $gg\to H\to W^{+}{W}^{-}$ beyond leading order
• Shift in the LHC Higgs diphoton mass peak from interference with background
• Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the H -> WW(*) -> l nu l nu decay mode with 4.7 /fb of ATLAS data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
• Two-Loop Renormalization in the Standard Model Part III: Renormalization Equations and their Solutions
• Narrow-width approximation limitations
• Electroweak and finite quark-mass effects on the Higgs boson transverse momentum distribution
• Interference of Higgs diphoton signal and background in production with a jet at the LHC
• Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
• Higgs Interference Effects in $\Pg \Pg \to \PZ\PZ$ and their Uncertainty
• Updated Predictions for Higgs Production at the Tevatron and the LHC
• Finite-width effects on threshold corrections to squark and gluino production
• Di-Vector Boson + Jet Production via Gluon Fusion at Hadron Colliders
• Simulation of Finite Width Effects in Physics Beyond the Standard Model
• A threshold-improved narrow-width approximation for BSM physics
• Search for a Standard Model Higgs boson in the H -> ZZ -> llnunu decay channel using 4.7 fb-1 of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV data with the ATLAS detector
• The process gg->WW as a probe into the EWSB mechanism
• Resonance--Continuum Interference in Light Higgs Boson Production at a Photon Collider
• Effective field theory approach to the Higgs lineshape
• Gluon-induced QCD corrections to pp --> ZZ --> l anti-l l' anti-l'

Cited by in corpus (177)

• Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
• Combined Measurement of the Higgs Boson Mass in $pp$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and 8 TeV with the ATLAS and CMS Experiments
• Precise determination of the mass of the Higgs boson and tests of compatibility of its couplings with the standard model predictions using proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV
• The Standard Model as an Effective Field Theory
• Measurement of the properties of a Higgs boson in the four-lepton final state
• Combined measurements of Higgs boson production and decay using up to $80$ fb${}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS experiment
• Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
• Measurements of the Higgs boson production and decay rates and coupling strengths using $pp$ collision data at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and $8$ TeV in the ATLAS experiment
• Constraints on the spin-parity and anomalous HVV couplings of the Higgs boson in proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV
• Higgs Boson Studies at Future Particle Colliders
• Status of the Higgs Singlet Extension of the Standard Model after LHC Run 1
• Measurement of Higgs boson production and properties in the WW decay channel with leptonic final states
• Measurement of the Higgs boson mass from the $H\to \gamma \gamma$ and $H\to Z{Z}^{\ast }\to 4\ell$ channels with the ATLAS detector using 25 fb${}^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data
• Constraining the Higgs boson width with ZZ production at the LHC
• Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in the four-lepton channel in $pp$ collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
• Dark Matter through the Higgs portal
• Search for an additional, heavy Higgs boson in the $H\to ZZ$ decay channel at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV in $pp$ collision data with the ATLAS detector
• Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in sqrt(s) = 8TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
• Search for a Higgs boson in the mass range from 145 to 1000 GeV decaying to a pair of W or Z bosons
• Dynamics of Perturbations in Double Field Theory & Non-Relativistic String Theory
• Bounding the Higgs width at the LHC using full analytic results for gg -> 2e 2μ
• Constraints on the Higgs boson width from off-shell production and decay to Z-boson pairs
• $W^{\pm }Z$ production at the LHC: fiducial cross sections and distributions in NNLO QCD
• Constraining anomalous HVV interactions at proton and lepton colliders
• QCD corrections to ZZ production in gluon fusion at the LHC
• Measurements of the Higgs boson width and anomalous HVV couplings from on-shell and off-shell production in the four-lepton final state
• Physics at the e+ e- Linear Collider
• Higgs Working Group Report of the Snowmass 2013 Community Planning Study
• Mass Effects in the Higgs-Gluon Coupling: Boosted vs Off-Shell Production
• The two-loop helicity amplitudes for $q{\bar{q}}^{\prime }\to V_1{V}_2\to 4\mathrm{leptons}$
• Constraints on the off-shell Higgs boson signal strength in the high-mass $ZZ$ and $WW$ final states with the ATLAS detector
• A global view on the Higgs self-coupling
• Search for a new scalar resonance decaying to a pair of Z bosons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV
• Vices and Virtues of Higgs EFTs at Large Energy
• $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ production at the LHC: fiducial cross sections and distributions in NNLO QCD
• Search for a high-mass Higgs boson decaying to a $W$ boson pair in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
• Bounding the Higgs Boson Width Through Interferometry
• Search for an invisibly decaying Higgs boson or dark matter candidates produced in association with a $Z$ boson in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
• Resummed Higgs cross section at N${}^3$LL
• NLO Higgs Effective Field Theory and kappa-framework
• Limits on the Higgs boson lifetime and width from its decay to four charged leptons
• NLO Inspired Effective Lagrangians for Higgs Physics
• Limitations and Opportunities of Off-Shell Coupling Measurements
• Weak Interactions in Top-Quark Pair Production at Hadron Colliders: An Update
• Search for the electroweak production of supersymmetric particles in $\sqrt{s}$=8 TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector
• Search for heavy resonances decaying into a pair of $Z$ bosons in the ${\ell }^{+}{\ell }^{-}{\ell }^{\prime +}{\ell }^{\prime -}$ and ${\ell }^{+}{\ell }^{-}\nu \bar{\nu }$ final states using 139 fb${}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
• Search for a standard-model-like Higgs boson with a mass in the range 145 to 1000 GeV at the LHC
• Taming the off-shell Higgs boson
• Search for supersymmetry in events with four or more leptons in $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
• Constraints on off-shell Higgs boson production and the Higgs boson total width in $ZZ\to 4\ell$ and $ZZ\to 2\ell 2\nu$ final states with the ATLAS detector
• Bounding the Higgs width at the LHC: complementary results from $H\to WW$
• QCD corrections to vector boson pair production in gluon fusion including interference effects with off-shell Higgs at the LHC
• Signal-background interference effects for $gg\to H\to W^{+}{W}^{-}$ beyond leading order
• Shift in the LHC Higgs diphoton mass peak from interference with background
• Beyond Geolocating: Constraining Higher Dimensional Operators in $H\to 4\ell$ with Off-Shell Production and More
• The Higgs width in the SMEFT
• Electron and muon $g-2$ anomalies in general flavour conserving two Higgs doublets models
• All the generalized Georgi-Machacek models
• Measurement of the Higgs boson width and evidence of its off-shell contributions to ZZ production
• Higgs Boson Production and Decay: Dalitz Sector
• Transverse momentum resummation effects in W^+W^- measurements
• Higgs Physics: It ain't over till it's over
• New features in the JHU generator framework: constraining Higgs boson properties from on-shell and off-shell production
• Search for Higgs boson off-shell production in proton-proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV and derivation of constraints on its total decay width
• NNLOPS accurate predictions for $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ production
• Two loop correction to interference in $gg\to ZZ$
• Higgs CAT
• Interference effects for H --> WW/ZZ --> l anti-nu_l anti-l nu_l searches in gluon fusion at the LHC
• Higgs couplings: disentangling New Physics with off-shell measurements
• ZZ production in gluon fusion at NLO matched to parton-shower
• Interference of Higgs diphoton signal and background in production with a jet at the LHC
• Measurement of differential and integrated fiducial cross sections for Higgs boson production in the four-lepton decay channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 and 8 TeV
• Two-loop helicity amplitudes for the production of two off-shell electroweak bosons in quark-antiquark collisions
• High Precision Higgs from High Energy Muon Colliders
• Scrutinizing the Higgs Signal and Background in the $2e2\mu$ Golden Channel
• Search for new light gauge bosons in Higgs boson decays to four-lepton final states in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
• Higgs Interference Effects in $\Pg \Pg \to \PZ\PZ$ and their Uncertainty
• Anomalous triple-gauge-boson interactions in vector-boson pair production with RECOLA2
• Two-loop helicity amplitudes for $gg\to ZZ$ with full top-quark mass effects
• Extracting Effective Higgs Couplings in the Golden Channel
• Higgs-Strahlung: Merging the NLO Drell-Yan and Loop-Induced 0+1 jet Multiplicities
• New physics in resonant production of Higgs boson pairs
• Soft gluon resummation in the signal-background interference process of $gg(\to h^{\ast })\to ZZ$
• Jet Vetoes Interfering with H->WW
• ZZ+jet production via gluon fusion at the LHC
• Off-shell Higgs Probe to Naturalness
• Phenomenology of Enhanced Light Quark Yukawa Couplings and the $W^{\pm }h$ Charge Asymmetry
• Exploring Theory Space with Monte Carlo Reweighting
• Higgs Couplings at High Scales
• Flavour Conservation in Two Higgs Doublet Models
• Measurement of $ZZ$ production in the $\ell \ell \nu \nu$ final state with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV
• Heavy Higgs signal-background interference in gg --> VV in the Standard Model plus real singlet
• Interference effects for Higgs-mediated Z-pair plus jet production
• Measurements of four-lepton production in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
• Measurement of the $ZZ$ production cross section in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV using the $ZZ\to {\ell }^{-}{\ell }^{+}{\ell }^{\prime -}{\ell }^{\prime +}$ and $ZZ\to {\ell }^{-}{\ell }^{+}\nu \bar{\nu }$ channels with the ATLAS detector
• Higgs characterisation in the presence of theoretical uncertainties and invisible decays
• Production and decay of the Higgs boson in association with top quarks
• Interference Effects in $t\bar{t}$ Production at the LHC as a Window on New Physics
• Determination of spin and parity of the Higgs boson in the $W{W}^{\ast }\to e\nu \mu \nu$ decay channel with the ATLAS detector
• Interference in the $gg\to h\to \gamma \gamma$ On-Shell Rate and the Higgs Boson Total Width
• $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ production at NNLO+PS with MiNNLO${}_{\mathrm{PS}}$
• Higgs constraints from vector boson fusion and scattering
• Are There Hidden Scalars in LHC Higgs Results?
• Constraining the Higgs Boson Coupling to Light Quarks in the $H\to ZZ$ Final States
• Merging WW and WW+jet with MINLO
• Four lepton production in gluon fusion: off-shell Higgs effects in NLO QCD
• Hiding a Higgs width enhancement from off-shell gg (--> h*) --> ZZ measurements
• Four-lepton production in gluon fusion at NLO matched to parton showers
• Top quark mass effects in $gg\to ZZ$ at two loops and off-shell Higgs interference
• The Higgs Boson in the Standard Model - From LEP to LHC: Expectations, Searches, and Discovery of a Candidate
• On-shell interference effects in Higgs final states
• Weak Boson Fusion at 100 TeV
• Contribution of third generation quarks to two-loop helicity amplitudes for W boson pair production in gluon fusion
• On the interpretation of Feynman diagrams, or, did the LHC experiments observe $H\to \gamma \gamma$?
• Interference effects in the $H(\to \gamma \gamma )+2$ jets channel at the LHC
• Improving Higgs coupling measurements through ZZ Fusion at the ILC
• Probing the top-quark width through ratios of resonance contributions of $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to W^{+}{W}^{-}b\bar{b}$
• Probing the Symmetric Higgs Portal with Di-Higgs Boson Production
• Off-shell effects in Higgs processes at a linear collider and implications for the LHC
• Off-shell Higgs Couplings in $H^{\ast }\to ZZ\to \ell \ell \nu \nu$
• Bounding the Higgs Width Using Effective Field Theory
• Characterising the Higgs boson with ATLAS data from Run 2 of the LHC
• Off-shell Higgs production at the LHC as a probe of the trilinear Higgs coupling
• Probing New Physics by the Tail of the Off-shell Higgs in $V_L{V}_L$ Mode
• Measurement of off-shell Higgs boson production in the $H^{\ast }\to ZZ\to 4\ell$ decay channel using a neural simulation-based inference technique in 13 TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector
• Finite-width effects in unstable-particle production at hadron colliders
• New physics and signal-background interference in associated $pp\to HZ$ production
• Production of $\gamma Zg$ and associated processes via gluon fusion at hadron colliders
• Higgs boson couplings: measurements and theoretical interpretation
• Measurement of the Higgs boson mass and width using the four-lepton final state in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV
• Extracting the Top-Quark Width from Non-Resonant Production
• BSM WW production with a jet veto
• A new evaluation of the $HZZ$ coupling: direct bounds on anomalous contributions and $CP$ violating effects via a new asymmetry
• Hadron Collider Searches for Diboson Resonances
• Model independent top quark width measurement using a combination of resonant and non resonant cross sections
• Transverse-momentum resummation for vector-boson pair production at NNLL+NNLO
• Probing Higgs portals with matrix-element based kinematic discriminants in $ZZ\to 4\ell$ production
• Interference contributions to gluon initiated heavy Higgs production in the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model
• ZZ production at high transverse momenta beyond NLO QCD
• Interference effect on heavy Higgs resonance signal in γγand ZZ channels
• Signal-background interference for a singlet spin-0 digluon resonance at the LHC
• Electroweak, QCD and flavour physics studies with ATLAS data from Run 2 of the LHC
• Signal-background interference effects in Higgs-mediated diphoton production beyond NLO
• Bounding the Higgs width at the LHC
• Perturbative Higgs CP violation, unitarity and phenomenology
• Probing the top-quark width using the charge identification of $b$ jets
• Higgs interference effects at the one-loop level in the 1-Higgs-Singlet extension of the Standard Model
• Interference Effects in Higgs production through Vector Boson Fusion in the Standard Model and its Singlet Extension
• Interference Effect on Resonance Studies in Searches of Heavy Particles
• Adding Pseudo-Observables to the Four-Lepton Experimentalist's Toolbox
• Les Houches 2023 -- Physics at TeV Colliders: Report on the Standard Model Precision Wishlist
• Effective field theory approach to the Higgs lineshape
• Coupling Extraction From Off-Shell Cross-sections
• Constraint on the total width of the Higgs boson from Higgs boson and four-top-quark measurements in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
• CP-violating effects on gravitational waves in a complex singlet extension of the Standard Model with degenerate scalars
• Signal-background interference for digluon resonances at the Large Hadron Collider
• Peaks and cusps: anomalous thresholds and LHC physics
• Anomalous coupling, top-mass and parton-shower effects in $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ production
• Interference effects in Heavy Higgs production via gluon fusion in the Singlet Extension of the Standard Model
• On the two-loop amplitude for $gg\to ZZ$ production with full top-mass dependence
• Vector-boson pair production at NNLO
• Theory Summary and Prospects
• The HiggsTools Handbook: Concepts and observables for deciphering the Nature of the Higgs Sector
• The Standard Model from the LHC to future colliders: a contribution to the Workshop "What Next" of INFN
• Effective field theories and pseudo-observables in the quest for physics beyond the Standard Model
• An approach to constraining the Higgs width at the LHC and HL-LHC
• CMS High mass WW and ZZ Higgs search with the complete LHC Run1 statistics
• Off-shell effects in Higgs decays to heavy gauge bosons and signal-background interference in Higgs decays to photons at a linear collider
• Future Colliders Symposium in Hong Kong: Scientific Overview
• BSM Physics: What the Higgs Can Tell Us
• Measurement of the Higgs boson total decay width using the H $\to$ WW $\to$ e$\nu \mu \nu$ decay channel in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV
• Experimental Summary of the Second Annual Conference on Large Hadron Collider Physics
• Theoretical modeling of QCD radiation in off-shell Higgs production through gluon fusion
• Impact of fermionic operators on the Higgs width measurement
• NLO QCD corrections to the processes pp $\to$ ZZ with 0, 1 and 2 jets at the LHC
• Anomalous $H\to ZZ\to 4\ell$ decay and its interference effects at the LHC
• Interference effects in new physics searches