Detector Optimization Studies and Light Higgs Decay into Muons at CLIC

TL;DR

This paper evaluates detector performance and Higgs decay measurements at CLIC, focusing on simulation adaptations, background impacts, and the potential to measure light Higgs decays into muons with high precision.

Contribution

It develops a modified SiD simulation model for CLIC, assesses detector robustness against backgrounds, and studies the measurement of light Higgs decays into muons.

Findings

Track reconstruction remains robust with backgrounds.

Tungsten calorimeter achieves desired energy resolution.

Higgs to muons branching ratio can be measured with ~15% uncertainty.

Abstract

The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) is a concept for a future $e^{+}e^{-}$ linear collider with a center-of-mass energy of up to 3 TeV. The design of a CLIC experiment is driven by the requirements related to the physics goals, as well as by the experimental conditions. For example, the short time between two bunch crossings of 0.5 ns and the backgrounds due to beamstrahlung have direct impact on the design of a CLIC experiment. The Silicon Detector (SiD) is one of the concepts currently being discussed as a possible detector for the International Linear Collider (ILC). In this thesis we develop a modified version of the SiD simulation model for CLIC, taking into account the specific experimental conditions. In addition, we developed a software tool to investigate the impact of beam-related backgrounds on the detector by overlaying events from different simulated event samples. Moreover, we present full simulation studies, determining the performance of the calorimeter and tracking systems. We show that the track reconstruction in the all-silicon tracker of SiD is robust in the presence of the backgrounds at CLIC. Furthermore, we investigate tungsten as a dense absorber material for the hadronic calorimeter, which allows for the construction of a compact hadronic calorimeter that fulfills the requirements on the energy resolution and shower containment without a significant increase of the coil radius. Finally, the measurement of the decays of light Higgs bosons into two muons is studied in full simulation. We find that with an integrated luminosity of 2 ab$^{-1}$, corresponding to 4 years of data taking at CLIC, the respective Higgs branching ratio can be determined with a statistical uncertainty of approximately 15%.