Resonant mono Higgs at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential of the LHC to detect resonant mono-Higgs signals arising from models with heavy neutrinos, providing new insights into neutrino mass generation mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a novel resonant mono-Higgs signal as a probe for neutrino mass models at the LHC, extending beyond dark matter searches.

Findings

LHC can exclude certain heavy neutrino models via resonant mono-Higgs signals.

Dedicated simulations show the LHC's sensitivity to these neutrino-related processes.

Reinterpretation of results in a benchmark neutrino mass generation scenario.

Abstract

In recent years, the production of a SM particle with large missing transverse momentum, dubbed mono-X searches, have gained increasing attention. After the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, the run-II of the LHC will now scrutinise its properties, looking for BSM physics. In particular, one could search for mono-Higgs signals, that are typically studied in models addressing dark matter. However, this signal can appear also in models addressing the neutrino masses, if additional heavier neutrinos with masses at the electroweak scale are present. The latter will couple to the SM neutrinos and the Higgs boson, yielding a type of mono-Higgs signal not considered for dark matter: the resonant production of a Higgs boson and missing energy. In this paper, we address the LHC exclusion power of the latter with dedicated detector simulations, and reinterpret it in a benchmark scenario for neutrino mass generation.