Discriminating Higgs production mechanisms using jet energy profiles

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method to distinguish Higgs production mechanisms at the LHC by analyzing jet energy profiles, enabling precise tests of the Standard Model and new physics models.

Contribution

The study develops a new jet energy profile technique to differentiate between gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion Higgs production at the LHC.

Findings

Can distinguish SM Higgs production from pure VBF or GF at 5σ with 100 fb⁻¹

Method effectively validates or rules out new physics models with similar branching fractions

Provides a new precision tool for Higgs production mechanism analysis

Abstract

We present a new tool for precision measurements of the Higgs boson production mechanisms at the LHC. We study events with a Higgs boson produced with two forward jets. Even with fairly stringent cuts, one expects a significant contamination of gluon fusion (GF) in addition to vector-boson fusion (VBF) in the event sample. By measuring the jet energy profile of the most central jet, we find that SM production can be distinguished from either pure VBF or pure GF at the $5\sigma$ level with 100 fb$^{-1}$ of luminosity at the 14 TeV LHC. Moreover, this discrimination technique can be used to validate or rule out new physics models that predict similar observable branching fractions as the 125 GeV SM Higgs but have different production mechanisms.