Higgs differential cross section and STXS measurements at CMS

TL;DR

This CMS study delivers the latest differential Higgs cross sections in both bosonic and fermionic final states using Run 2 data at $\sqrt{s}=13\,\mathrm{TeV}$ (and initial Run 3 results at $\sqrt{s}=13.6\,\mathrm{TeV}$). It reports fiducial measurements and STXS classifications, with SMEFT interpretations of the fiducials to constrain Higgs couplings across production modes including VH, VBF, ggF, ttH, and tH. The work combines multiple decay channels, achieving high-precision differential spectra and sets SMEFT-based coupling limits, advancing tests of the Standard Model and sensitivity to BSM effects. The methodologies include profile-likelihood fits to invariant masses, unbinned likelihoods, and data-driven background techniques, ensuring robust cross-section extraction across channels and kinematic regimes.

Abstract

In this manuscript, we present the latest differential measurements of Higgs boson cross sections with the CMS detector in bosonic and fermionic decay channels. Both fiducial differential cross section measurements and measurements in the simplified template cross section framework are presented. The fiducial measurements are then used to compute limits on Higgs couplings using the Standard Model Effective Field Theory. The results are based on data collected during Run 2 of the LHC by the CMS experiment. First set of differential measurements with early Run 3 data are also reported.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: The differential fiducial cross-sections for $p_{\text{T}}^{\text{H}}$ (left), $|y^H|$ (center) and $N_{Jets}$ (right) in $\mathrm{H}\rightarrow{\gamma \gamma}$ decay channel are presented.
• Figure 2: The differential fiducial cross-sections for $p_{\text{T}}^{\text{H}}$ (left) and $|y^H|$ (right) in $\mathrm{H}\rightarrow{\rm Z}{\rm Z}$ decay channel are presented.
• Figure 3: The measured STXS signal strengths are presented (left). A vertical dashed line represents the SM expectation for the signal strength. The measured values of $\sigma \times \mathcal{B}$ are also reported (right).
• Figure 4: VBF and ggF signal strengths measured in bins of $m_{jj}$ and $p_T$ are shown (left). The unfolded STXS is also presented (right) for three bins of Higgs boson $p_T$ in ggF and two bins of generator-level $m_{jj}$ in VBF.
• Figure 5: The $t\bar{t}H$ signal strength $\mu_{t\bar{t}H}$ are shown inclusively (left) and in different $p_{\text{T}}^{H}$ bins from the STXS measurement (center). The upper 95% confidence level limit on the $tH$ signal strength is also presented (right) .