NLO Corrections to Double Higgs Production in the Higgs Singlet Model

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a second scalar in a Higgs singlet model affects double Higgs production at the LHC, including NLO QCD corrections and interference effects, potentially enhancing the production rate.

Contribution

It provides the first calculation of NLO QCD corrections to resonant double Higgs production in the Higgs singlet model, including interference effects.

Findings

NLO corrections significantly alter kinematic distributions near the resonance.

Resonant contributions can enhance double Higgs production cross-section.

Interference effects are important for accurate predictions.

Abstract

Higgs pair production at the LHC from gluon fusion is small in the Standard Model, but can be enhanced in models where a resonant enhancement is allowed. We examine the effect of a resonant contribution from a second scalar arising in a model with a gauge singlet scalar field in addition to the usual SU(2) scalar doublet, with mass up to $M_H$~600 GeV and discuss the interference effects in double Higgs production. We compute the NLO QCD corrections in the large $m_t$ limit and show that they can significantly distort kinematic distributions near the resonance peak.