Higgs Probes of axion-like particles

TL;DR

This paper explores how axion-like particles can indirectly influence Higgs boson decays into various particles through one-loop corrections, highlighting the potential of di-photon decay measurements to probe these particles.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of indirect Higgs decay modifications caused by axion-like particles, emphasizing the importance of di-photon decay channels for detection.

Findings

Fermion decay corrections are suppressed.

Di-photon decay channels offer significant probing potential.

Heavy axion-like particles with suppressed couplings can still be detected via Higgs decay measurements.

Abstract

We study axion-like particle contributions to the Higgs boson decays. The particle is assumed to couple with the standard model electroweak gauge bosons. Although direct productions of axion-like particles have often been discussed, we investigate indirect contributions to the Higgs boson decays into fermions, photons, $W$, and $Z$ bosons at the one-loop level. It is found that the corrections to the fermions are suppressed, whereas precise measurements of the di-photon channel of the Higgs boson decay can provide a significant probe of the model especially when the axion-like particle is heavy and its coupling to di-photon is suppressed.