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Probing new physics in the Boosted $HH \to b\bar{b}γγ$ channel at the LHC

Mohamed Belfkir

TL;DR

This work introduces the first dedicated study of boosted HH→bbγγ production as a probe of BSM physics in the high-energy regime. By modeling non-resonant deviations via the quartic gauge–Higgs coupling modifier $\kappa_{2V}$ and resonant production from a heavy scalar within a 2HDM-like framework, the analysis demonstrates that a boosted Higgs reconstruction enhances sensitivity to the high-$m_{HH}$ tail and to heavy resonances. It systematically compares resolved and boosted categories, employing an XGBoost classifier for the non-resonant case and a simple cut-based approach for the resonant search, and shows that the boosted category extends reach beyond the traditional resolved approach. The combination of both categories yields the strongest constraints, underscoring the boosted topology as a crucial component for future Run-3 and HL-LHC di-Higgs studies. Overall, the work highlights the importance of exploiting high-energy VBF-like phase space through boosted Higgs reconstruction to advance BSM di-Higgs searches.

Abstract

This paper presents the first dedicated study of the boosted $HH \to b\bar{b}γγ$ topology as a key probe of physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) in the high-energy double-Higgs boson regime. The analysis presented in this paper, focuses on two classes of new-physics scenarios: non-resonant deviations of the quartic gauge--Higgs interaction, parameterized by the coupling modifier $κ_{2V}$, and resonant enhancement arising from the decay of a heavy scalar state, modeled within a two-Higgs-doublet framework. We demonstrate that the boosted reconstruction category enhances sensitivity to beyond SM effects that populate the high-$m_{HH}$ tail, yielding improved constraints on $κ_{2V}$ and extending the discovery reach for heavy resonances.

Probing new physics in the Boosted $HH \to b\bar{b}γγ$ channel at the LHC

TL;DR

This work introduces the first dedicated study of boosted HH→bbγγ production as a probe of BSM physics in the high-energy regime. By modeling non-resonant deviations via the quartic gauge–Higgs coupling modifier and resonant production from a heavy scalar within a 2HDM-like framework, the analysis demonstrates that a boosted Higgs reconstruction enhances sensitivity to the high- tail and to heavy resonances. It systematically compares resolved and boosted categories, employing an XGBoost classifier for the non-resonant case and a simple cut-based approach for the resonant search, and shows that the boosted category extends reach beyond the traditional resolved approach. The combination of both categories yields the strongest constraints, underscoring the boosted topology as a crucial component for future Run-3 and HL-LHC di-Higgs studies. Overall, the work highlights the importance of exploiting high-energy VBF-like phase space through boosted Higgs reconstruction to advance BSM di-Higgs searches.

Abstract

This paper presents the first dedicated study of the boosted topology as a key probe of physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) in the high-energy double-Higgs boson regime. The analysis presented in this paper, focuses on two classes of new-physics scenarios: non-resonant deviations of the quartic gauge--Higgs interaction, parameterized by the coupling modifier , and resonant enhancement arising from the decay of a heavy scalar state, modeled within a two-Higgs-doublet framework. We demonstrate that the boosted reconstruction category enhances sensitivity to beyond SM effects that populate the high- tail, yielding improved constraints on and extending the discovery reach for heavy resonances.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 14 sections, 6 equations, 6 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Theoretical Framework
  3. Monte Carlo Event Generation
  4. Object reconstruction and Event selection
  5. Object reconstruction
  6. Common Event selection
  7. Resolved Category Selection
  8. Boosted Category Selection
  9. Orthogonality
  10. Event categorization
  11. Results and Discussion
  12. Non-resonant analysis
  13. Resonant analysis
  14. Conclusion

Figures (6)

  • Figure 1: Leading-order Feynman diagrams for (a,b) gluon–gluon fusion and (c–e) vector-boson-fusion Higgs boson pair production. (f) Illustrates the resonant production mode.
  • Figure 2: Two-dimensional truth-level distribution of $\Delta R_{b\bar{b}}$ as a function of $p_{T}^{\gamma\gamma}$ for SM (a), $\kappa_{2V}=0$ (b), resonant $m_X$ = 2 TeV (c) and $m_X$ = 5 TeV (d) at $\sqrt{s}=13.6$ TeV.
  • Figure 3: The reconstructed di-Higgs invariant mass $m_{HH}$ in both non-resonant (a) and resonant (b) analysis. The boosted reconstruction category is shown with solid histograms, while the resolved category is shown with dashed histograms.
  • Figure 4: Expected 95% CL upper limit on the signal strength $\mu_{HH}$ for the resolved, boosted, and combined categories.
  • Figure 5: Profile-likelihood scan of the $\kappa_{2V}$ modifier for the resolved, boosted, and combined analysis categories.
  • ...and 1 more figures