A double parton scattering background to Higgs boson production at the LHC

TL;DR

The paper demonstrates that double parton scattering (DPS) can produce the same final state as Higgs searches in the WH, H->bb channel at the LHC, challenging the assumption that DPS is negligible. By applying the DPS formalism, it shows that the DPS background, estimated with the CDF-measured $\sigma_{eff}$, can be about three orders of magnitude larger than the Higgs signal for $WH$ production, even after realistic selection cuts. This finding implies that DPS backgrounds must be accounted for in LHC Higgs analyses and can influence channel choices and cut strategies. The work also notes that DPS considerations are relevant for a broader set of final states beyond $Wb\bar{b}$.

Abstract

The experimental capability of recognizing the presence of b quarks in complex hadronic final states has addressed the attention towards final states with b\bar{b} pairs for observing the production of the Higgs boson at the LHC, in the intermediate Higgs mass range.We point out that double parton scattering processes are going to represent a sizeable background to the process.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: Double parton scattering background to the Higgs boson production as a function of the $b{\bar{b}}$ invariant mass compared to the expected Higgs signal for three possible values of the Higgs mass, 80, 100 and 120 $GeV$. The dashed line is the background at the lowest order in perturbation theory. The continuous line is the result for the double parton scattering background when computing the $b{\bar{b}}$ cross section at order $\alpha_S^3$mnr
• Figure 2: Backgrounds to Higgs production after the cuts (see main text). Dotted line: single scattering contribution to the $Wb{\bar{b}}$ channel. Dashed line: double parton scattering background. Continuous line: total estimated background.