Next-to-leading order QCD corrections to Higgs boson production in association with a photon via weak-boson fusion at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper calculates next-to-leading order QCD corrections for Higgs boson production with a photon via weak-boson fusion at the LHC, providing a detailed Monte Carlo tool and analyzing the impact on cross sections and distributions.

Contribution

It introduces a flexible Monte Carlo program for NLO QCD corrections to Higgs plus photon production via weak-boson fusion, enhancing precision in theoretical predictions.

Findings

QCD corrections to cross sections are small under experimental cuts.

Kinematic distribution shapes can vary by up to 20%.

Residual scale uncertainties are a few percent.

Abstract

Higgs boson production in association with a hard central photon and two forward tagging jets is expected to provide valuable information on Higgs boson couplings in a range where it is difficult to disentangle weak-boson fusion processes from large QCD backgrounds. We present next-to-leading order QCD corrections to Higgs production in association with a photon via weak-boson fusion at a hadron collider in the form of a flexible parton-level Monte Carlo program. The QCD corrections to integrated cross sections are found to be small for experimentally relevant selection cuts, while the shape of kinematic distributions can be distorted by up to 20% in some regions of phase space. Residual scale uncertainties at next-to-leading order are at the few-percent level.