Maximum Entropy Principle and the Higgs Boson Mass

TL;DR

This paper applies the Maximum Entropy Principle to Higgs boson decays, accurately estimating its mass and demonstrating the principle's utility in modeling Higgs sector phenomena without extra assumptions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel inference approach linking the Maximum Entropy Principle with Higgs boson decay data, accurately estimating the Higgs mass and exploring implications for extended models.

Findings

Higgs mass estimated as 125.04 ± 0.25 GeV consistent with LHC data

Maximum Entropy Principle effectively models Higgs decay probabilities

Potential application to models with invisible Higgs decay channels

Abstract

A successful connection between Higgs boson decays and the Maximum Entropy Principle is presented. Based on the information theory inference approach we determine the Higgs boson mass as $M_H= 125.04\pm 0.25$ GeV, a value fully compatible to the LHC measurement. This is straightforwardly obtained by taking the Higgs boson branching ratios as the target probability distributions of the inference, without any extra assumptions beyond the Standard Model. Yet, the principle can be a powerful tool in the construction of any model affecting the Higgs sector. We give, as an example, the case where the Higgs boson has an extra invisible decay channel. Our findings suggest that a system of Higgs bosons undergoing a collective decay to Standard Model particles is among the most fundamental ones where the Maximum Entropy Principle applies.