Higgs to $b\bar{b}$ from Vector Boson Fusion for High-Scale Physics

TL;DR

This paper explores the high-momentum region of vector boson fusion processes where the Higgs decays to bottom quarks, revealing potential sensitivity to new physics beyond the Standard Model at scales up to 1.8 TeV.

Contribution

It investigates the high-momentum phase space of VBF Higgs production with $b\bar{b}$ decay, highlighting its potential to probe higher-dimensional operators and new physics scales.

Findings

Limits on new physics scale range from 0.5 TeV to 1.8 TeV.

High-momentum VBF region enhances sensitivity to beyond Standard Model physics.

Removing the upper cut on forward jets allows exploration of new physics signatures.

Abstract

Vector boson fusion is arguably the most direct collider probe of electroweak symmetry breaking. Typically, the signature includes two forward/backward jets with low transverse momenta with a scale that is set by the mass of the vector boson. For this reason, an upper cut is used when searching for vector boson fusion processes in the Standard Model. Alternatively, the upper cut on the forward jets can be removed and the high-momentum exchange region of vector boson fusion can be studied. This phase space region has sensitivity to new physics via higher dimensional operators and form factors. In this work, we study the high-momentum region of the vector boson fusion channel where the Higgs decays to $b\bar{b}$. We show that, depending on the form of new physics, the limits on the new physics scale range from 0.5 TeV to 1.8 TeV.