Mass Effects in the Higgs-Gluon Coupling: Boosted vs Off-Shell Production

TL;DR

This paper investigates how top mass effects influence Higgs-gluon coupling measurements at the LHC, comparing boosted and off-shell production methods, and emphasizes their importance for precise Higgs studies.

Contribution

It provides state-of-the-art simulations including top mass effects for Higgs production, and compares the sensitivity of boosted and off-shell methods to these effects.

Findings

Top mass effects are significant and should be included in Higgs analyses.

Both boosted and off-shell methods are sensitive to top mass effects.

Simulations with up to two jets at NLO improve the accuracy of Higgs coupling measurements.

Abstract

In the upcoming LHC run we will be able to probe the structure ofthe loop--induced Higgs--gluon coupling through kinematics. First, we establish state-of-the-art simulations with up to two jets to next-to-leading order including top mass effects. They allow us to search for deviations from the low-energy limits in boosted Higgs production. In addition, the size of the top mass effects suggests that they should generally be included in Higgs studies at the LHC. Next, we show how off-shell Higgs production with a decay to four leptons is sensitive to the same top mass effects. We compare the potential of both methods based on the same top--Higgs Lagrangian. Finally, we comment on related model assumptions required for a Higgs width measurement.