Has a fermiophobic Higgs boson been detected at the LHC?

TL;DR

This paper discusses how a fermiophobic Higgs boson around 125 GeV could mimic the standard model Higgs in LHC searches, potentially explaining observed excesses in the gamma-gamma channel and implying significant revisions to new physics theories.

Contribution

It demonstrates that a fermiophobic Higgs can produce signals similar to the standard model Higgs at 125 GeV, challenging current interpretations of LHC data.

Findings

Fermiophobic Higgs mimics SM Higgs signals at 125 GeV in inclusive searches.

Enhanced gamma-gamma branching fraction compensates for reduced production cross section.

Observed excesses in gamma-gamma channel may indicate a fermiophobic Higgs.

Abstract

We show that, in the present inclusive searches for the Higgs boson at the LHC, a fermiophobic Higgs mimics the standard-model-like Higgs if its mass is around 125 GeV. For that mass the order-of-magnitude reduction of fermiophobic Higgs production cross sections is compensated by a corresponding increase in the Higgs branching fraction into $\gamma\gamma$, while the $WW^*,$ $ZZ^*,$ $Z\gamma$ signal yields are predicted to be somewhat smaller. The excess seen in the ATLAS and CMS fermiophobic Higgs boson searches in $\gamma\gamma$ channel, including the exclusive vector-boson-fusion analysis, suggests that the LHC sees a fermiophobic instead of a standard-model-like Higgs boson. If the Higgs boson turns out to be fermiophobic, many of our present ideas of new physics should be revised.