Higgs Boson Exchange Effects in $l^+l^-\to W^+W^-$ at High Energy

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential to observe Higgs exchange effects in high-energy lepton collisions producing W boson pairs, analyzing the energy thresholds and experimental conditions that enhance detectability.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the energy scale where Higgs exchange effects become significant in lepton-induced W pair production, including numerical simulations and the impact of experimental cuts.

Findings

Higgs exchange effects become relevant at specific center of mass energies.

Angular cuts can lower the energy threshold for observing effects.

The scaling of the relevant energy with lepton mass is characterized.

Abstract

We consider the prospects for detecting effects due to the Higgs exchange diagram in high energy mu^+ mu^-$, e^+ e^-, and tau^+ tau^- collisions producing a pair of W bosons. The processes l^+l^- -> W^+W^- (with l=mu,e,tau) are analyzed, analytically and via numerical simulations, to determine the center of mass energy, sqrt{s}_H, where the effects from Higgs exchange become relevant. The scaling of sqrt{s}_H with the mass of the incoming leptons is also studied. Special consideration is given to the W^+W^- -> l^pm} nu_l jj final state after experimental acceptance cuts are imposed. Angular cuts are shown to be able to significantly lower sqrt{s}_H.