Jets and Photons Spectroscopy of Higgs-ALP Interactions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Higgs boson decays involving axion-like particles (ALPs) can produce distinctive spectral lines in jets and photons, offering a new way to probe ALP-Higgs interactions at the LHC.

Contribution

It introduces an automated search strategy to detect ALP-Higgs interactions via resonance signatures in jets and photons, extending the search to previously inaccessible mass regions.

Findings

LHC can probe ALP-Higgs interactions for ALP masses 0.5-60 GeV.

Resonance signatures can be detected in inclusive jets plus photons final states.

Method improves sensitivity over current four-photon search channels.

Abstract

Axion-like particles (ALPs) and Higgs bosons can interact in scalar sectors beyond the Standard Model, leading the Higgs boson to decay into pairs of gluons and photons through the ALP interaction and giving rise to resonances in the decay products of the process $h\to aa\to gg+\gamma\gamma$, resembling a spectral lines analysis. We explore this signature to constrain an ALP effective field theory formulation and show that the forthcoming runs of the LHC will be capable to probe the ALP-Higgs interaction in the ALP mass range from 0.5 to 60 GeV using an automatized search strategy that adapts to different ALP masses in inclusive jets plus photons final states. Such interaction can also be tested in mass regions where the two and four-photon search channels are currently ineffective.