Testing the Higgs Boson Coupling to Gluons

TL;DR

This paper investigates methods to distinguish between gluon fusion Higgs production mechanisms using high transverse momentum Higgs events, achieving a 2-sigma separation with 500 fb^-1 despite background uncertainties.

Contribution

It introduces a technique to differentiate Higgs production via loop-induced gluon fusion from point-like production using Higgs pT distributions at high transverse momentum.

Findings

2-sigma separation with 500 fb^-1 luminosity

Background event yield is the main experimental uncertainty

Theoretical uncertainties from top mass effects can be reduced

Abstract

We study the possibility to separate in gluon fusion loop-induced Higgs boson production from point-like production. The Higgs boson is reconstructed in the Hgg final state at very large transverse momentum. Using the Higgs boson yields (normalized to the overall rate) and the shape of the Higgs boson pt distribution the two hypotheses can be separated with 2 standard deviations with an integrated luminosity of about 500 fb^-1. The largest experimental uncertainty affecting this estimate is the background event yield. The theoretical uncertainties from missing top mass effects are large, but can be decreased with dedicated calculations.