Analytical parametrization and shape classification of anomalous HH production in the EFT approach

TL;DR

This paper develops an analytical framework to classify and parametrize the effects of anomalous Higgs couplings on non-resonant Higgs pair production at the LHC, aiding experimental sensitivity studies.

Contribution

It introduces a shape classification and analytical parametrization of anomalous Higgs couplings affecting $HH$ production, with a method to estimate experimental sensitivities.

Findings

Partition of parameter space into phenomenologically similar regions.

Analytical formulas for cross-section modifications.

Preliminary analysis of final state topology variations.

Abstract

In this document we study the effect of anomalous Higgs boson couplings on non-resonant pair production of Higgs bosons ($HH$) at the LHC. We explore the space of the five parameters $\kappa_{\lambda}$, $\kappa_{t}$, $c_2$, $c_g$, and $c_{2g}$ in terms of the corresponding kinematics of the final state, and describe a partition of the space into a limited number of regions featuring similar phenomenology in the kinematics of $HH$ final state. We call clusters the sets of points belonging to the same region; to each cluster corresponds a representative point which we call a benchmark. We discuss a possible technique to estimate the sensitivity of an experimental search to the kinematical differences between the phenomenology of the benchmark points and the rest of the parameter space contained in the corresponding cluster. We also provide an analytical parametrization of the cross-section modifications that the variation of anomalous couplings produces with respect to standard model $HH$ production along with a recipe to translate the results into other parameter-space bases. Finally, we provide a preliminary analysis of variations in the topology of the final state within each region based on recent LHC results.