Search for Singly Charged Higgs in Vector Boson Scattering at the ep Colliders

TL;DR

This study investigates the potential to detect a singly charged Higgs boson in the Georgi-Machacek model at future ep colliders, using simulations and multivariate analysis to set limits on production and model parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a novel search strategy for charged Higgs bosons at ep colliders, including polarization effects, with detailed simulation and analysis for the FCC-eh and LHeC.

Findings

Set limits on production cross section times branching ratio.

Derived constraints on the model parameter  for Higgs masses 200-1000 GeV.

Analyzed effects of electron beam polarization.

Abstract

We search for a five-plet singly charged Higgs $H_5^\pm$ in the Georgi-Machacek model at the ep colliders. The charged Higgs bosons are produced via the $ZW^{\pm}$ fusion process $p\, e^- \to j\, e^-\, H_5^\pm$, and decay as $H_5^\pm \to Z\, W^{\pm} \to (l^+ l^-)\, (jj)$. With a detector-level simulation at the FCC-eh and LHeC, a multi-variate analysis is performed to yield limits on the production cross section times branching ratio $\sigma (p\, e^- \to j e^- H_5^\pm) \times {\rm BR}(H_5^\pm \to Z\, W^\pm)$ and on the model parameter $\sin\theta_H$ for charged Higgs masses between 200 and 1000 GeV. The effects of electron beam polarization are also investigated.