Higgs boson hadronic branching ratios at the ILC

TL;DR

This study estimates the Higgs boson decay branching ratios to bottom quarks, charm quarks, and gluons at the ILC using full detector simulation, neural network techniques, and precise flavor tagging.

Contribution

It introduces a new neural network-based method for discriminating Higgs decay modes and provides detailed estimates of branching ratio uncertainties at the ILC.

Findings

Branching ratio uncertainties: 4.8% for bar{b}, 8.4% for car{c}, 12.2% for gluons.

Effective flavor tagging with vertex reconstruction enhances measurement precision.

Neural network correlations improve signal discrimination.

Abstract

We present a study of the Higgs boson decay branching ratios to $b\bar{b}$, $c\bar{c}$ and gluons, one of the cornerstones of the physics program at the International Linear Collider (ILC). A standard model Higgs boson of 120\,GeV mass, produced in the Higgs-strahlung process at $\sqrt{s} = 250$\,GeV was investigated using the full detector simulation and reconstruction procedures. The analysis was performed in the framework of the Silicon Detector (SiD) concept with full account of inclusive standard model backgrounds. The selected decay modes contained two heavy flavour jets in the final state and required excellent flavour tagging through precise reconstruction of interaction and decay vertices in the detector. A new signal discrimination technique using correlations of neural network outputs was used to determine the branching ratios and estimate their uncertainties, 4.8\%, 8.4\% and 12.2\% for $b\bar{b}$, $c\bar{c}$ and gluons respectively.