The Global Higgs as a Signal for Compositeness at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential for detecting the global Higgs, a composite scalar predicted by composite Higgs models, at the 13 TeV LHC through various decay channels and signatures.

Contribution

It provides production rate calculations and analyzes the discovery prospects of the global Higgs decaying into top pairs, Higgs, gauge bosons, and fermion resonances, highlighting new detection strategies.

Findings

Global Higgs can be produced at the LHC with detectable rates.

Decays into top pairs and Higgs/gauge bosons are promising channels.

Boosted top partner jets may require specialized substructure analysis.

Abstract

The radial excitation of the global symmetry-breaking vacuum in composite Higgs models, called the "global Higgs", has been recently a focus of investigation. In this paper we study the prospects for detecting this composite scalar at the 13 TeV LHC. We compute the global Higgs production rates and estimate the discovery potential of a global Higgs decaying into top quark pairs and into Higgs and electroweak gauge bosons with subsequent hadronic decays. The global Higgs may also decay into fermion resonances such as top partners, providing a new window into compositeness. We show that top partner jets can be effectively unresolved in some regions of the parameter space. Such "boosted top partner" signatures would deserve the development of dedicated substructure analyses.