Physicists Nail Down Higgs Boson Production Rates With New Precision
Researchers using the ATLAS detector have made the most precise measurements yet of how Higgs bosons are created in particle collisions, confirming decades-old theory while opening doors to detect new physics. The work tests whether fundamental particles might violate symmetries scientists thought were sacred—findings that could reshape our understanding of the universe's building blocks.
Originaltitel: Measurements of Higgs boson production via gluon-gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion using H→WW→lνlν decays in <em>pp</em> collisions with the ATLAS detector and their effective field theory interpretations
<p>Higgs boson production cross-sections via gluon-gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion in proton-proton collisions are measured in the H -> WW -> l nu l nu decay channel. The Large Hadron Collider delivered proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV between 2015 and 2018, which were recorded by the ATLAS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140fb(-1). The total cross-sections for Higgs boson production by gluon-gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion times the H -> WW branching ratio are measured to be 12.4(-1.2)(+1.3) and 0.79(-0.16)(+0.18) pb, respectively, in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. Higgs boson production is further characterised through measurements of Simplified Template Cross-Sections in a total of fifteen kinematic fiducial regions. A new scheme of kinematic fiducial regions has been introduced to enhance the sensitivity to CP-violating effects in Higgs boson interactions. Both schemes are used to constrain CP-even and CP-odd dimension-six operators in the Standard Model effective field theory</p>