Same bump, different channel: Higgs fakes from technicolor

TL;DR

This paper discusses how technicolor models could produce signals similar to Higgs boson decays, potentially explaining the CDF Wjj excess and predicting observable effects at Tevatron or LHC.

Contribution

It identifies a technicolor decay channel that mimics Higgs signals, linking the CDF excess to alternative new physics explanations and suggesting observable signatures.

Findings

Technicolor decay channels can produce lepton pairs with MET similar to Higgs decays.

The technicolor signal strength can match that of an intermediate-mass Higgs.

Such signals could be detectable at Tevatron or LHC experiments.

Abstract

Resonant production of a light, narrow techni-rho, followed by the decay $\rho_T \rightarrow W+\pi_T(jj)$ has been proposed as an explanation of the Wjj excess observed by CDF. If the $\pi_T$ decays to $\tau+\nu/\tau^+ \tau^-$ rather than to jets, subsequent leptonic $\tau$ decay leads to $\ell^+\ell^- \nu\nu\bar{\nu}\bar{\nu}$, a final state that will be picked up by standard model $WW^{(*)} \rightarrow \ell^+\ell^-$ + MET Higgs searches. We point out that, for the same range of technicolor parameters required to fit the CDF Wjj excess, the correlated $\ell^+\ell^-$ + MET technicolor signal can have strength comparable to that of an intermediate-mass standard model Higgs boson, and therefore could be visible at the Tevatron or LHC.