Determination of the Relative Sign of the Higgs Boson Couplings to W and Z Bosons Using WH Production via Vector-Boson Fusion with the ATLAS Detector


Aad G., Abbott B., Abeling K., Abicht N., Abidi S., Aboulhorma A., ...More

Physical Review Letters, vol.133, no.14, 2024 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 133 Issue: 14
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Doi Number: 10.1103/physrevlett.133.141801
  • Journal Name: Physical Review Letters
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Ankara University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The associated production of Higgs and W bosons via vector-boson fusion is highly sensitive to the relative sign of the Higgs boson couplings to W and Z bosons. In this Letter, two searches for this process are presented, using 140 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at √s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The first search targets scenarios with opposite-sign couplings of the W and Z bosons to the Higgs boson, while the second targets standard model-like scenarios with same-sign couplings. Both analyses consider Higgs boson decays into a pair of b quarks and W boson decays with an electron or muon. The data exclude the opposite-sign coupling hypothesis with a significance beyond 5σ, and the observed (expected) upper limit set on the cross section for vector-boson fusion WH production is 9.0 (8.7) times the standard model value at 95% confidence level.