Testing Top-Quark Yukawa Interactions in e+ e- -> t \bar{t} Z

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential to measure top-quark Yukawa couplings at a future e+ e- collider, using optimal observables and beam polarization, to distinguish between different Higgs boson models with high significance.

Contribution

It introduces a method to determine top-quark Yukawa couplings and discriminate Higgs models at high-energy colliders, considering polarization and optimal observables.

Findings

Discrimination between SM Higgs, pseudoscalar, and mixed CP Higgs at 12σ at 1 TeV.

Limited sensitivity at 0.5 TeV due to lower production rates.

Potential to test CP violation in the scalar sector.

Abstract

Determination of the top-quark Yukawa couplings in the process e+ e- -> t \bar{t} Z has been studied for the high luminosity option (\int L=500\fbinver) of a linear e+e- collider. Polarization of the electron beam has been considered. The method of optimal observables has been adopted to determine the couplings and to disentangle different models. It has been found that it could be possible to discriminate between the Standard Model scalar Higgs boson, pure pseudoscalar and the Higgs boson of mixed CP at about 12 \sigma level for \sqrt{s}=1.TeV for the Higgs boson close to the production threshold both for the leptonic and hadronic top-quark decay channels. However, \sqrt{s}=.5 TeV collider turned out to have too small energy for tests of the top-quark Yukawa coupling because of its limited production rate (at most 2.5 \sigma effect). Possible tests of CP violation in the scalar sector have been considered.