Enhanced di-Higgs Production through Light Colored Scalars

Abstract

We demonstrate enhanced di-Higgs production at the LHC in the presence of modifications of the effective couplings of Higgs to gluons from new, light, colored scalars. While our results apply to an arbitrary set of colored scalars, we illustrate the effects with a real color octet scalar -- a simple, experimentally viable model involving a light (~125-300 GeV) colored scalar. Given the recent LHC results, we consider two distinct scenarios: First, if the Higgs is indeed near 125 GeV, we show that the di-Higgs cross section could be up to nearly one thousand times the Standard Model rate for particular octet couplings and masses. This is potentially observable in \emph{single} Higgs production modes, such as $pp \to h h \to γγb\bar{b}$ as well as $pp \to h h \to τ^+τ^- b\bar{b}$ where a small fraction of the $γγ$ or $τ^+τ^-$ events near the putative Higgs invariant mass peak contain also a $b\bar{b}$ resonance consistent with the Higgs mass. Second, if the Higgs is not at 125 GeV (and what the LHC has observed is an impostor), we show that the same parameter region where singly-produced Higgs production can be suppressed below current LHC limits, for a heavier Higgs mass, also simultaneously predicts substantially enhanced di-Higgs production. We point out several characteristic signals of di-Higgs production with a heavier Higgs boson, such as $pp \to hh \to W^+W^-W^+W^-$, which could use same-sign dileptons or trileptons plus missing energy to uncover evidence.