• Open Access

Distinguishing electroweak EFTs with WLWLn×h

Raquel Gómez-Ambrosio, Felipe J. Llanes-Estrada, Alexandre Salas-Bernárdez, and Juan J. Sanz-Cillero
Phys. Rev. D 106, 053004 – Published 20 September 2022

Abstract

The electroweak symmetry-breaking sector is one of the most promising and uncharted parts of the Standard Model (SM); but it seems likely that new electroweak physics may be out of reach of the present accelerator effort and the hope is to observe small deviations from the SM. Given that, effective field theory (EFT) becomes the logic method to use, and Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT) has become the standard. However, the most general theory with the known particle content is Higgs effective field theory (HEFT), and whether SMEFT suffices should be investigated in future experimental efforts. Building on investigations by other groups that established geometric criteria to distinguish SMEFT from HEFT (useful for theorists examining specific beyond-SM completions), we seek more phenomenological understanding and present an analogous discussion aimed at a broader audience. We discuss various aspects of (multi)Higgs boson production from longitudinal electroweak gauge bosons WLWLn×h in the TeV region as the necessary information to characterize the flare function, F(h), that determines whether SMEFT or HEFT is needed. We also present tree-level amplitudes including contact and exchange channels, as well as a short discussion on accessing F from the statistical limit of many bosons. We also discuss the status of the coefficients of the series expansion of F(h), its validity, whether its complex-h extension can be used to predict or not a tell-tale zero, and how they relate to the dimension-six and -eight SMEFT operators in the electroweak sector. We derive a set of new correlations among beyond the standard model corrections to the HEFT coefficients that help decide, from experimental data, whether we have a viable SMEFT. This analysis can be useful for machines beyond the LHC that could address the challenging final state with several Higgs bosons.

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  • Received 19 April 2022
  • Accepted 15 August 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.106.053004

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Particles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

Raquel Gómez-Ambrosio

  • Dipartimento di Fisica “G. Occhialini,” Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca and INFN, Sezione di Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, I–20126 Milano, Italy

Felipe J. Llanes-Estrada, Alexandre Salas-Bernárdez, and Juan J. Sanz-Cillero

  • Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento Física Teórica and IPARCOS, Plaza de las Ciencias 1, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Article Text

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Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 5 — 1 September 2022

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