Determination of the Relative Sign of the Higgs Boson Couplings to W and Z Bosons Using WH Production via Vector-Boson Fusion with the ATLAS Detector

Summary, in English

The associated production of Higgs and W bosons via vector-boson fusion is highly sensitive to the relative sign of the Higgs boson couplings to W and Z bosons. In this Letter, two searches for this process are presented, using 140 fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data at sqrt[s]=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The first search targets scenarios with opposite-sign couplings of the W and Z bosons to the Higgs boson, while the second targets standard model-like scenarios with same-sign couplings. Both analyses consider Higgs boson decays into a pair of b quarks and W boson decays with an electron or muon. The data exclude the opposite-sign coupling hypothesis with a significance beyond 5σ, and the observed (expected) upper limit set on the cross section for vector-boson fusion WH production is 9.0 (8.7) times the standard model value at 95% confidence level.

• Author: G. Aad; T.P.A. Åkesson; C. Doglioni; P.A. Ekman; V. Hedberg; H. Herde; B. Konya; E. Lytken; R. Poettgen; N.D. Simpson; O. Smirnova; L. Zwalinski
• Department/s: Particle and nuclear physics; eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration; Department of Physics
• Publishing year: 2024
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Physical Review Letters
• Volume: 133
• Issue: 14
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.141801
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Topic: Subatomic Physics
• Keywords: article; boson
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1079-7114