A Heavy Scalar at the LHC from Vector Boson Fusion

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential to discover or exclude a heavy scalar mixed with the Higgs boson at the 14 TeV LHC through vector boson fusion, focusing on mass reach depending on mixing angles and luminosity.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of the LHC's sensitivity to a heavy scalar with Higgs mixing via vector boson fusion, including mass exclusion limits based on luminosity and mixing angle.

Findings

Heavy scalar up to 539 GeV can be excluded at 300 fb^{-1}.

Heavy scalar up to 937 GeV can be excluded at 3000 fb^{-1}.

Sensitivity depends on the mixing angle lpha.

Abstract

A hypothetical scalar mixed with the standard model Higgs appears in few contexts of new physics. This study addresses the question what mass range is in the reach of $14$ TeV LHC given different magnitudes of mixing angle $\alpha$, where event simulations are based on production from vector boson fusion channel and decays into SM leptons through ${\rm WW}$ or ${\rm ZZ}$. It indicates that heavy scalar mass up to $539$ GeV and $937$ GeV can be excluded by integrated luminosity of $300$ $\rm{fb}^{-1}$ and $3000$ $\rm{fb}^{-1}$ respectively for $\sin^{2}\alpha$ larger than $0.04$.