3 research outputs found
Hiding a Heavy Higgs Boson at the 7 TeV LHC
A heavy Standard Model Higgs boson is not only disfavored by electroweak
precision observables but is also excluded by direct searches at the 7 TeV LHC
for a wide range of masses. Here, we examine scenarios where a heavy Higgs
boson can be made consistent with both the indirect constraints and the direct
null searches by adding only one new particle beyond the Standard Model. This
new particle should be a weak multiplet in order to have additional
contributions to the oblique parameters. If it is a color singlet, we find that
a heavy Higgs with an intermediate mass of 200 - 300 GeV can decay into the new
states, suppressing the branching ratios for the standard model modes, and thus
hiding a heavy Higgs at the LHC. If the new particle is also charged under QCD,
the Higgs production cross section from gluon fusion can be reduced
significantly due to the new colored particle one-loop contribution. Current
collider constraints on the new particles allow for viable parameter space to
exist in order to hide a heavy Higgs boson. We categorize the general
signatures of these new particles, identify favored regions of their parameter
space and point out that discovering or excluding them at the LHC can provide
important indirect information for a heavy Higgs. Finally, for a very heavy
Higgs boson, beyond the search limit at the 7 TeV LHC, we discuss three
additional scenarios where models would be consistent with electroweak
precision tests: including an additional vector-like fermion mixing with the
top quark, adding another U(1) gauge boson and modifying triple-gauge boson
couplings.Comment: 42 pages, 12 figure
Vacuum Instabilities with a Wrong-Sign Higgs-Gluon-Gluon Amplitude
The recently discovered 125 GeV boson appears very similar to a Standard
Model Higgs, but with data favoring an enhanced h to gamma gamma rate. A number
of groups have found that fits would allow (or, less so after the latest
updates, prefer) that the h-t-tbar coupling have the opposite sign. This can be
given meaning in the context of an electroweak chiral Lagrangian, but it might
also be interpreted to mean that a new colored and charged particle runs in
loops and produces the opposite-sign hGG amplitude to that generated by
integrating out the top, as well as a contribution reinforcing the W-loop
contribution to hFF. In order to not suppress the rate of h to WW and h to ZZ,
which appear to be approximately Standard Model-like, one would need the loop
to "overshoot," not only canceling the top contribution but producing an
opposite-sign hGG vertex of about the same magnitude as that in the SM. We
argue that most such explanations have severe problems with fine-tuning and,
more importantly, vacuum stability. In particular, the case of stop loops
producing an opposite-sign hGG vertex of the same size as the Standard Model
one is ruled out by a combination of vacuum decay bounds and LEP constraints.
We also show that scenarios with a sign flip from loops of color octet charged
scalars or new fermionic states are highly constrained.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures; v2: references adde