Interference effect on heavy Higgs resonance signal in γγand ZZ channels

Abstract

The resonance-continuum interference is usually neglected when the width of a resonance is small compared to the resonance mass. We re-examine this standard by studying the interference effects in high-resolution decay channels, $\gamma \gamma$ and $ZZ$, of the heavy Higgs boson $H^0$ in nearly aligned two-Higgs-doublet models. For the $H^0$ with a sub-percent width-to-mass ratio, we find that, in the parameter space where the LHC 14 TeV $ZZ$ resonance search can be sensitive, the interference effects can modify the $ZZ$ signal rate by $\mathcal{O}(10)\%$ and the exclusion reach by $\mathcal{O}(10)$ GeV. In other parameter space where the $ZZ$ or $\gamma \gamma$ signal rate is smaller, the LHC 14 TeV reach is absent, but a resonance shape can be much more dramatically changed. In particular, the $\gamma \gamma$ signal rate can change by $\mathcal{O}(100)\%$. Relevant to such parameter space, we suggest variables that can characterize a general resonance shape. We also illustrate the relevance of the width on the interference by adding non-standard decay modes of the heavy Higgs boson.

22 pages, 10 figures; added discussion about real-part interference

References in corpus (17)

• 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
• New parton distributions for collider physics
• 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 Scalar Diphoton Resonances in the Mass Range $65-600$ GeV with the ATLAS Detector in $pp$ Collision Data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 $TeV$
• Constraints on the Higgs boson width from off-shell production and decay to Z-boson pairs
• Top pair invariant mass distribution: a window on new physics
• Wrong sign and symmetric limits and non-decoupling in 2HDMs
• Light Higgs bosons in Two-Higgs-Doublet Models
• Dip or nothingness of a Higgs resonance from the interference with a complex phase
• Complementarity in direct searches for additional Higgs bosons at the LHC and the International Linear Collider
• Heavy Higgs signal-background interference in gg --> VV in the Standard Model plus real singlet
• On-shell interference effects in Higgs final states
• Study of the heavy CP-even Higgs with mass 125 GeV in two-Higgs-doublet models at the LHC and ILC
• Resonance--Continuum Interference in Light Higgs Boson Production at a Photon Collider
• Probing CP Violation in $h\to Z\gamma$ with Background Interference
• Gigantic diphoton rate of heavy Higgs bosons in the aligned two Higgs doublet models with small $\tan \beta$

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Top-phobic heavy Higgs boson as the 750 GeV diphoton resonance
• How Resonance-Continuum Interference Changes 750 GeV Diphoton Excess: Signal Enhancement and Peak Shift
• Interference Effects in $t\bar{t}$ Production at the LHC as a Window on New Physics
• CP violation effects in the diphoton spectrum of heavy scalars
• Signal-background interference for a singlet spin-0 digluon resonance at the LHC
• Confronting the fourth generation two Higgs doublet model with the phenomenology of heavy Higgs bosons
• Signal-background interference for digluon resonances at the Large Hadron Collider