Probing the scale of New Physics at the LHC: the example of Higgs data

Abstract

We present a technique to determine the scale of New Physics (NP) compatible with any set of data, relying on well-defined credibility intervals. Our approach relies on the statistical view of the effective field theory capturing New Physics at low energy. We introduce formally the notion of testable NP and show that it ensures integrability of the posterior distribution. We apply our method to the Standard Model Higgs sector in light of recent LHC data, considering two generic scenarios. In the scenario of democratic higher dimensional operators generated at one-loop, we find the testable NP scale to lie within $[10,260]$ TeV at $95\%$ Bayesian credibility level. In the scenario of loop-suppressed field strength-Higgs operators, the testable NP scale is within $[28,1200]$ TeV at $95\%$ Bayesian credibility level. More specific UV models are necessary to allow lower values of the NP scale.

19 pages, 3 figures, cosmetic changes, matches journal version. Nuclear Physics B (2014)

References in corpus (4)

• Bayes in the sky: Bayesian inference and model selection in cosmology
• The Electroweak Fit of the Standard Model after the Discovery of a New Boson at the LHC
• Updated Combination of CDF and D0 Searches for Standard Model Higgs Boson Production with up to 10.0 fb-1 of Data
• Standard Model Higgs boson searches at the Tevatron

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Bayesian Model comparison of Higgs couplings
• New likelihoods for shape analysis
• Anomalous light-by-light scattering at the LHC: recent developments and future perspectives