Potential precision of a direct measurement of the Higgs boson total width at a muon colliderr

TL;DR

This paper assesses the potential of a muon collider to precisely measure the Higgs boson's width, mass, and production cross section, achieving unprecedented accuracy that could test Higgs interactions in detail.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed evaluation of direct Higgs width measurement capabilities at a muon collider with specific beam resolutions and luminosities.

Findings

Higgs width can be measured to within 0.15-0.35 MeV.

A muon collider can determine the Higgs properties with high precision.

Potential to test non-Standard-Model Higgs scenarios.

Abstract

In the light of the discovery of a 126 GeV Standard-Model-like Higgs boson at the LHC, we evaluate the achievable accuracies for direct measurements of the width, mass, and the s-channel resonant production cross section of the Higgs boson at a proposed muon collider. We find that with a beam energy resolution of R=0.01% (0.003%) and integrated luminosity of 0.5 fb^{-1} (1 fb^{-1}), a muon collider would enable us to determine the Standard-Model-like Higgs width to +/- 0.35 MeV (+/- 0.15 MeV) by combining two complementary channels of the WW^* and b\bar b final states. A non-Standard-Model Higgs with a broader width is also studied. The unparalleled accuracy potentially attainable at a muon collider would test the Higgs interactions to a high precision.