Constraints on new phenomena via Higgs boson couplings and invisible decays with the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of Higgs boson couplings and searches for invisible decays using ATLAS data, setting limits on new physics models and constraining dark matter scenarios.

Contribution

It provides the most comprehensive analysis of Higgs couplings and invisible decays, combining multiple channels and models to set new limits and constraints.

Findings

Upper limit on invisible Higgs decay branching ratio is 0.23.

Lower limit on pseudoscalar Higgs mass is 370 GeV.

Constraints on extensions of the Standard Model including composite and two-Higgs-doublet models.

Abstract

The ATLAS experiment at the LHC has measured the Higgs boson couplings and mass, and searched for invisible Higgs boson decays, using multiple production and decay channels with up to 4.7 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV. In the current study, the measured production and decay rates of the observed Higgs boson in the $\gamma\gamma$, $ZZ$, $WW$, $Z\gamma$, $bb$, $\tau\tau$, and $\mu\mu$ decay channels, along with results from the associated production of a Higgs boson with a top-quark pair, are used to probe the scaling of the couplings with mass. Limits are set on parameters in extensions of the Standard Model including a composite Higgs boson, an additional electroweak singlet, and two-Higgs-doublet models. Together with the measured mass of the scalar Higgs boson in the $\gamma\gamma$ and $ZZ$ decay modes, a lower limit is set on the pseudoscalar Higgs boson mass of $m_{A}>370$ GeV in the "hMSSM" simplified Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Results from direct searches for heavy Higgs bosons are also interpreted in the hMSSM. Direct searches for invisible Higgs boson decays in the vector-boson fusion and associated production of a Higgs boson with $W/Z$ ($Z\to ll$, $W/Z \to jj$) modes are statistically combined to set an upper limit on the Higgs boson invisible branching ratio of 0.25. The use of the measured visible decay rates in a more general coupling fit improves the upper limit to 0.23, constraining a Higgs portal model of dark matter.