NNLO QCD predictions for the H -> WW -> l l nu nu signal at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper provides the first NNLO QCD calculation of the Higgs to WW to leptons signal at the LHC, including realistic experimental cuts, revealing significant higher-order effects on the cross section.

Contribution

It introduces the first NNLO QCD predictions for Higgs to WW decay at the LHC with all experimental cuts applied, improving precision in theoretical modeling.

Findings

NNLO corrections significantly affect the cross section depending on cuts

The study provides a detailed NNLO cross section value for Higgs searches

Higher-order effects are crucial for accurate signal predictions

Abstract

We present a first computation of the NNLO QCD cross section at the LHC for the production of four leptons from a Higgs boson decaying into W bosons. We study the cross section for a Higgs boson mass Mh = 165 GeV; around this value a Standard Model Higgs boson decays almost exclusively into W-pairs. We apply all nominal experimental cuts on the final state leptons and the associated jet activity and study the magnitude of higher-order effects up to NNLO on all kinematic variables which are constrained by experimental cuts. We find that the magnitude of the higher-order corrections varies significantly with the signal selection cuts. As a main result we give the value of the cross section at NNLO with all selection cuts envisaged for the search for the Higgs boson.