Extra Dimensions and the Universal Suppression of Higgs Boson Observables at High Energy Colliders

TL;DR

The paper discusses how theories with extra dimensions predict a universal suppression of Higgs boson signals at high-energy colliders, complicating detection at hadron colliders but not at electron-positron colliders.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of universal Higgs rate suppression due to extra dimensions and analyzes its implications for collider experiments.

Findings

Universal suppression affects Higgs observables at Tevatron and LHC.

High energy e+e- colliders can more effectively detect suppressed Higgs signals.

Detection challenges are significant at hadron colliders for small suppression levels.

Abstract

Precision electroweak data suggests the existence of a light Standard Model Higgs boson. Its width is very narrow by an accident of the fermion mass hierarchies, and so slight perturbations to the theory induce dramatic changes in the phenomenology of direct Higgs boson production. Several theory ideas motivated by low-scale extra dimensions lead to a universal rate suppression of Higgs boson observables. The Tevatron and LHC will have difficulty accruing compelling evidence for small universal suppression of rate observables, and even more difficulty discerning the underlying cause. A high energy e+e- collider would have relatively little trouble.