Laboratory-frame tests of quantum entanglement in $H \to WW$

TL;DR

This paper proposes laboratory-frame observables to detect quantum entanglement between W bosons from Higgs decay, demonstrating high statistical sensitivity using existing LHC data and relating angular distributions to decay amplitudes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to observe W boson entanglement in laboratory frame using dilepton data and connects angular distributions to decay dynamics.

Findings

7σ statistical sensitivity with Run 2 data

6σ sensitivity including systematic uncertainties

Relation established between angular distributions and decay amplitudes

Abstract

Quantum entanglement between the two $W$ bosons resulting from the decay of a Higgs boson may be investigated in the dilepton channel $H \to WW \to \ell \nu \ell \nu$ using laboratory-frame observables that only involve the charged leptons $\ell=e,\mu$. The dilepton invariant mass distribution, already measured by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations at the LHC, can be used to observe the quantum entanglement of the $WW$ pair with a statistical sensitivity of $7\sigma$ with Run 2 data, and of $6\sigma$ when including theoretical systematics. As a by-product, the relation between $W$ rest frame (four-dimensional) angular distributions, $H \to WW$ decay amplitudes, and spin correlation coefficients, is written down.