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- Are there hidden scalars in LHC Higgs results?Publication . Arhrib, A.; Ferreira, Pedro Miguel; Santos, RuiThe Higgs boson recently discovered at the Large Hadron Collider has shown to have couplings to the remaining particles well within what is predicted by the Standard Model. The search for other new heavy scalar states has so far revealed to be fruitless, imposing constraints on the existence of new scalar particles. However, it is still possible that any existing heavy scalars would preferentially decay to final states involving the light Higgs boson thus evading the current LHC bounds on heavy scalar states. Moreover, decays of the heavy scalars could increase the number of light Higgs bosons being produced. Since the number of light Higgs bosons decaying to Standard Model particles is within the predicted range, this could mean that part of the light Higgs bosons could have their origin in heavy scalar decays. This situation would occur if the light Higgs couplings to Standard Model particles were reduced by a concomitant amount. Using a very simple extension of the SM - the two-Higgs doublet model we show that in fact we could already be observing the effect of the heavy scalar states even if all results related to the Higgs are in excellent agreement with the Standard Model predictions.
- The N2HDM under theoretical and experimental scrutinyPublication . Mühlleitner, Margarete; Sampaio, Marco; Santos, Rui; Wittbrodt, JonasThe N2HDM is based on the CP-conserving 2HDM extended by a real scalar singlet field. Its enlarged parameter space and its fewer symmetry conditions as compared to supersymmetric models allow for an interesting phenomenology compatible with current experimental constraints, while adding to the 2HDM sector the possibility of Higgs-to-Higgs decays with three different Higgs bosons. In this paper the N2HDM is subjected to detailed scrutiny. Regarding the theoretical constraints we implement tests of tree-level perturbativity and vacuum stability. Moreover, we present, for the first time, a thorough analysis of the global minimum of the N2HDM. The model and the theoretical constraints have been implemented in ScannerS, and we provide N2HDECAY, a code based on HDECAY, for the computation of the N2HDM branching ratios and total widths including the state-of-the-art higher order QCD corrections and off-shell decays. We then perform an extensive parameter scan in the N2HDM parameter space, with all theoretical and experimental constraints applied, and analyse its allowed regions. We find that large singlet admixtures are still compatible with the Higgs data and investigate which observables will allow to restrict the singlet nature most effectively in the next runs of the LHC. Similarly to the 2HDM, the N2HDM exhibits a wrong-sign parameter regime, which will be constrained by future Higgs precision measurements.
- Scalar mass dependence of angular variables in t(t)over-bar phi productionPublication . Azevedo, Duarte; Capucha, Rodrigo; Onofre, Antonio; Santos, RuiIn this paper we explore CP discrimination in the associated production of top-quark pairs (t (t) over bar) with a generic scalar boson (phi) at the LHC. We probe the CP-sensitivity of several observables for a varying scalar boson mass and CP-number, either CP-even (phi = H) or CP-odd (phi= A), using dileptonic final states of the t (t) over bar phi system, with phi -> (b) over bar. We show that CP-searches are virtually impossible for phi boson masses above a few hundred GeV in this channel. A full phenomenological analysis was performed, using Standard Model background and signal events generated with MadGraph5 aMC@NLO and reconstructed using a kinematic fit. The most sensitive CP-observables are used to compute Confidence Levels (CLs), as a function of luminosity, for the exclusion of different signal hypotheses with scalar and pseudoscalar boson masses that range from m(phi) = 40 GeV up to 200 GeV. We finalize by analysing the impact of a measurement (or limit) of the CP-violating angle in the parameter space of a complex two-Higgs doublet model known as the C2HDM.
- Phenomenological comparison of models with extended Higgs sectorsPublication . Muehlleitner, Margarete; Sampaio, Marco O. P.; Santos, Rui; Wittbrodt, JonasBeyond the Standard Model (SM) extensions usually include extended Higgs sectors. Models with singlet or doublet fields are the simplest ones that are compatible with the rho parameter constraint. The discovery of new non-SM Higgs bosons and the identification of the underlying model requires dedicated Higgs properties analyses. In this paper, we compare several Higgs sectors featuring 3 CP-even neutral Higgs bosons that are also motivated by their simplicity and their ability to solve some of the flaws of the SM. They are: the SM extended by a complex singlet field (CxSM), the singlet extension of the 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (N2HDM), and the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric SM extension (NMSSM). In addition, we analyse the CP-violating 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (C2HDM), which provides 3 neutral Higgs bosons with a pseudoscalar admixture. This allows us to compare the effects of singlet and pseudoscalar admixtures. Through dedicated scans of the allowed parameter space of the models, we analyse the phenomenologically viable scenarios from the view point of the SM-like Higgs boson and of the signal rates of the non-SM-like Higgs bosons to be found. In particular, we analyse the effect of singlet/pseudoscalar admixture, and the potential to differentiate these models in the near future. This is supported by a study of couplings sums of the Higgs bosons to massive gauge bosons and to fermions, where we identify features that allow us to distinguish the models, in particular when only part of the Higgs spectrum is discovered. Our results can be taken as guidelines for future LHC data analyses, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments, to identify specific benchmark points aimed at revealing the underlying model.
- Electroweak corrections in a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone Dark Matter model revisitedPublication . Glaus, Seraina; Muehlleitner, Margarete; Mueller, Jonas; Patel, Shruti; Roemer, Tizian; Santos, RuiHaving so far only indirect evidence for the existence of Dark Matter a plethora of experiments aims at direct detection of Dark Matter through the scattering of Dark Matter particles off atomic nuclei. For the correct interpretation and identification of the underlying nature of the Dark Matter constituents higher-order corrections to the cross section of Dark Matter-nucleon scattering are important, in particular in models where the tree-level cross section is negligibly small. In this work we revisit the electroweak corrections to the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section in a model with a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson as the Dark Matter candidate. Two calculations that already exist in the literature, apply different approaches resulting in different final results for the cross section in some regions of the parameter space leading us to redo the calculation and analyse the two approaches to clarify the situation. We furthermore update the experimental constraints and examine the regions of the parameter space where the cross section is above the neutrino floor but which can only be probed in the far future.
- Singlet extensions of the standard model at LHC Run 2: benchmarks and comparison with the NMSSMPublication . Costa, Raul; Muhlleitner, Margarete; Sampaio, Marco O. P.; Santos, RuiThe Complex singlet extension of the Standard Model (CxSM) is the simplest extension that provides scenarios for Higgs pair production with different masses. The model has two interesting phases: the dark matter phase, with a Standard Model-like Higgs boson, a new scalar and a dark matter candidate; and the broken phase, with all three neutral scalars mixing. In the latter phase Higgs decays into a pair of two different Higgs bosons are possible. In this study we analyse Higgs-to-Higgs decays in the framework of singlet extensions of the Standard Model (SM), with focus on the CxSM. After demonstrating that scenarios with large rates for such chain decays are possible we perform a comparison between the NMSSM and the CxSM. We find that, based on Higgs-to-Higgs decays, the only possibility to distinguish the two models at the LHC run 2 is through final states with two different scalars. This conclusion builds a strong case for searches for final states with two different scalars at the LHC run 2. Finally, we propose a set of benchmark points for the real and complex singlet extensions to be tested at the LHC run 2. They have been chosen such that the discovery prospects of the involved scalars are maximised and they fulfil the dark matter constraints. Furthermore, for some of the points the theory is stable up to high energy scales. For the computation of the decay widths and branching ratios we developed the Fortran code
- Vacuum structure of the Z(2) symmetric Georgi-Machacek modelPublication . Azevedo, Duarte; Ferreira, Pedro Miguel; Logan, Heather E.; Santos, RuiWe discuss the vacuum structure of a version of the Georgi-Machecek model with an exact Z(2) symmetry acting on the triplet fields. Besides the usual custodial-symmetric model, with rho = 1 at tree-level, a model with a dark matter candidate is also viable. The other phases of the model lead to electric charge breaking, a wrong pattern of electroweak symmetry breaking or to rho not equal 1 at tree-level. We derive conditions to have an absolute minimum in each of the two viable phases, the custodial and the dark matter phases.
- Charged higgs bosons in single top production at the LHCPublication . Guedes, Renato; Moretti, Stefano; Santos, RuiWe show that a light charged Higgs boson signal via tau(+/-)nu decay can be established at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) also in the case of single top production. This process complements searches for the same signal in the case of charged Higgs bosons emerging from t (t) over bar production. The models accessible include the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) as well a variety of 2-Higgs Doublet Models (2HDMs). High energies and luminosities are however required, thereby restricting interest on this mode to the case of the LHC running at 14TeV with design configuration.
- NLO electroweak corrections in general scalar singlet modelsPublication . Costa, Raul; Sampaio, Marco O. P.; Santos, RuiIf no new physics signals are found, in th.e coming years, at the Large Hadron Collider Run-2, an increase in precision of the Higgs couplings measurements will shift the discussion to the effects of higher order corrections. In Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) theories this may become the only tool to probe new physics. Extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with several scalar singlets may address several of its problems, namely to explain dark matter, the matter-antimatter asymmetry, or to improve the stability of the SM up to the Planck scale. In this work we propose a general framework to calculate one loop-corrections to the propagators and to the scalar field vacuum expectation values of BSM models with an arbitrary number of scalar singlets. We then apply our method to a real and to a complex scalar singlet models. We assess the importance of the one-loop radiative corrections first by computing them for a tree level mixing sum constraint, and then for the main Higgs production process gg --> H. We conclude that, for the currently allowed parameter space of these models, the corrections can be at most a few percent. Notably, a non-zero correction can survive when dark matter is present, in the SM-like limit of the Higgs couplings to other SM particles.
- Vacuum instabilities in the N2HDMPublication . Ferreira, P. M.; Santos, Rui; Muehlleitner, Milada Margarete; Weiglein, Georg; Wittbrodt, JonasThe Higgs sector of the Next-to-Minimal Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (N2HDM) is obtained from the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) containing two complex Higgs doublets, by adding a real singlet field. In this paper, we analyse the vacuum structure of the N2HDM with respect to the possibility of vacuum instabilities. We show that while one type of charge-and CP-preserving vacuum cannot coexist with deeper charge or CP-breaking minima, there is another type of vacuum whose stability is endangered by the possible occurrence of deeper charge-and CP-breaking minima. Analytical expressions relating the depth of different vacua are deduced. Parameter scans of the model are carried out that illustrate the regions of parameter space where the vacuum is either stable or metastable as well as the regions where tunnelling to deeper vacua gives rise to a too short lifetime of the vacuum. Taking other experimental and theoretical constraints into account, we find that the vacuum stability constraints have an important impact on the phenomenology of the N2HDM.