High $P_T$ Higgs excess as a signal of non-local QFT at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper explores how non-local quantum field theory extensions of the Standard Model could manifest at the LHC, potentially explaining excesses in high transverse momentum Higgs production through modifications in vector-boson interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a non-local QFT framework affecting Higgs production, predicting observable effects at the LHC that differ from the Standard Model.

Findings

Potential for enhanced boosted Higgs production at high $P_T$

Non-local effects become detectable at a few TeV scale

Non-local models are ghost free and scale-invariant at high energies

Abstract

Non-local extensions of the Standard Model with a non-locality scale $\Lambda_{NL}$ have the effect of smearing the pointlike vertices of the Standard Model. At energies significantly lower than $\Lambda_{NL}$ vertices appear pointlike, while beyond this scale all beta functions vanish and all couplings approach a fixed point leading to scale invariance. Non-local SM extensions are ghost free, with the non-locality scale serving as an effective cutoff to radiative corrections of the Higgs mass. We argue that the data expected to be collected at the LHC phase 2 will have a sensitivity to non-local effects originating from a non-locality scale of a few TeV. Using an infinite derivative prescription, we study modifications to heavy vector-boson cross sections that can lead to an enhanced production of boosted Higgs bosons in a region of the kinematic phase space where the SM background is very small.