Excluding a Generic Spin-2 Higgs Impostor

Abstract

We argue that the current experimental data in conjunction with perturbative unitarity considerations exclude the possibility that the LHC 125-126 GeV resonance is a generic massive spin-2 particle of either parity. We analyse tree-level Z-spin-2 elastic scattering and demonstrate that perturbative unitarity breaks down at energies $\Lambda \sim 600$ GeV. Furthermore, we find that W,Z-spin-2 interactions contribute to the electroweak oblique parameters in a way that is in gross disagreement with observations.

12 pp, 8 figures; V2: reference added; minor corrections to match published version

References in corpus (5)

• Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
• Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC
• Study of the mass and spin-parity of the Higgs boson candidate via its decays to Z boson pairs
• Single-variable asymmetries for measuring the `Higgs' boson spin and CP properties
• Higgs Spin Determination in the WW channel and beyond

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Precision Measurements of Higgs Couplings: Implications for New Physics Scales
• Anomalous Top-Higgs Couplings and Top Polarisation in Single Top and Higgs Associated Production at the LHC
• Enhanced $thj$ signal at the LHC with $h\to \gamma \gamma$ decay and $\mathcal{C}\mathcal{P}$-violating top-Higgs coupling
• On the compatibility of the diboson excess with a gg-initiated composite sector