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Abdelhak Djouadi

Publications and source records attributed to Abdelhak Djouadi.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2013

The couplings of the Higgs boson and its CP properties from fits of the signal strengths and their ratios at the 7+8 TeV LHC

Using the full set of the LHC Higgs data from the runs at 7 and 8 TeV center of mass energies that have been released by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations, we determine the couplings of the Higgs particle to fermions and gauge bosons as well as its parity or CP composition. We consider ratios of production cross sections times decay branching fractions in which the theoretical (and some experimental) uncertainties as well as as some ambiguities from new physics cancel out. A fit of both the signal strengths in the various search channels that have been conducted, H -> Z Z, W W, gamma gamma, tau tau and b b, and their ratios shows that the observed ~126 GeV particle has couplings to fermions and gauge bosons that are Standard Model-like already at the 68% confidence level (CL). From the signal strengths in which the theoretical uncertainty is taken to be a bias, the particle is shown to be at most 68% CP-odd at the 99%CL and the possibility that it is a pure pseudoscalar state is excluded at the 4 sigma level when including both the experimental and theoretical uncertainties. The signal strengths also measure the invisible Higgs decay width which, with the same type of uncertainty analysis, is shown to be Gamma_H^inv / Gamma_H^SM < 0.52 at the 68%CL.

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arXiv2013

The MSSM Higgs sector at a high $M_{SUSY}$: reopening the low tan$β$ regime and heavy Higgs searches

One of the main implications of the LHC discovery of a Higgs boson with a mass $M_h \approx 126$ GeV is that the scale of supersymmetry-breaking in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) might be rather high, $M_S \gg M_Z$. In this paper, we consider the high $M_S$ regime and study the spectrum of the extended Higgs sector of the MSSM, including the LHC constraints on the mass and the rates of the observed light $h$ state. In particular, we show that in a simplified model that approximates the important radiative corrections, the unknown scale $M_S$ (and some other leading SUSY parameters) can be traded against the measured value of $M_h$. One would be then essentially left with only two free parameters to describe the Higgs sector, tan$β$ and the pseudoscalar Higgs mass $M_A$, even at higher orders. The main phenomenological consequence of these high $M_S$ values is to reopen the low tan$β$ region, tan$β\lsim 3-5$, which was for a long time buried under the LEP constraint on the lightest $h$ mass when a low SUSY scale was assumed. We show that, in this case, the heavier MSSM neutral $H/A$ and charged $H^\pm$ states can be searched for in a variety of interesting final states such as decays into gauge and lighter Higgs bosons (in pairs on in mixed states) and decays into heavy top quarks. Examples of sensitivity on the $[tanβ, M_A]$ parameter space at the LHC in these channels are given.

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arXiv2013

Direct detection of Higgs-portal dark matter at the LHC

We consider the process in which a Higgs particle is produced in association with jets and show that monojet searches at the LHC already provide interesting constraints on the invisible decays of a 125 GeV Higgs boson. Using the existing monojet searches performed by CMS and ATLAS, we show the 95% confidence level limit on the invisible Higgs decay rate is of the order of the total Higgs production rate in the Standard Model. This limit could be significantly improved when more data at higher center of mass energies are collected, provided systematic errors on the Standard Model contribution to the monojet background can be reduced. We also compare these direct constraints on the invisible rate with indirect ones based on measuring the Higgs rates in visible channels. In the context of Higgs portal models of dark matter, we then discuss how the LHC limits on the invisible Higgs branching fraction impose strong constraints on the dark matter scattering cross section on nucleons probed in direct detection experiments.

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arXiv2013

Precision Higgs coupling measurements at the LHC through ratios of production cross sections

Now that the Higgs particle has been observed by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC, the next endeavour would be to probe its fundamental properties and to measure its couplings to fermions and gauge bosons with the highest possible accuracy. However, the measurements will be limited by significant theoretical uncertainties that affect the production cross section in the main production channels as well as by experimental systematical errors. Following earlier work, we propose in this paper to consider ratios of Higgs production cross sections times decay branching ratios in which most of the theoretical uncertainties and some systematical errors, such as the ones due to the luminosity measurement and the Higgs decay branching fractions, cancel out. The couplings of the Higgs particle could be then probed in a way that will be mostly limited by the statistical accuracy achievable at the LHC and accuracies at the percent level are foreseen for some of the ratios at the end of the LHC run. At the theoretical level, these ratios are also interesting as they do not involve the ambiguities that affect the Higgs total decay width in new physics scenarios. To illustrate how these ratios can be used to determine the Higgs couplings, we perform a rough analysis of the recent ATLAS and CMS data which shows that there is presently no significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation.

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arXiv2012

The Higgs sector of the phenomenological MSSM in the light of the Higgs boson discovery

The long awaited discovery of a new light scalar at the LHC opens up a new era of studies of the Higgs sector in the SM and its extensions. In this paper we discuss the consequences of the observation of a light Higgs boson with the mass and rates reported by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations on the parameter space of the phenomenological MSSM, including also the so far unsuccessful LHC searches for the heavier Higgs bosons and supersymmetric particle partners in missing transverse momentum as well as the constraints from B physics and dark matter. We explore the various regimes of the MSSM Higgs sector depending on the parameters MA and tan beta and show that only two of them are still allowed by all present experimental constraints: the decoupling regime where there is only one light and standard--like Higgs boson and the supersymmetric regime in which there are light supersymmetric particle partners affecting the decay properties of the Higgs boson, in particular its di-photon and invisible decays.

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arXiv2012

Sealing the fate of a fourth generation of fermions

The search for the effects of heavy fermions in the extension of the Standard Model with a fourth generation is part of the experimental program of the Tevatron and LHC experiments. Besides being directly produced, these states affect drastically the production and decay properties of the Higgs boson. In this note, we first reemphasize the known fact that in the case of a light and long-lived fourth neutrino, the present collider searches do not permit to exclude a Higgs boson with a mass below the WW threshold. In a second step, we show that the recent results from the ATLAS and CMS collaborations which observe an excess in the $γγ$ and $4\ell^\pm$ search channels corresponding to a Higgs boson with a mass $M_H \approx 125$ GeV, cannot rule out the fourth generation possibility if the $H \to γγ$ decay rate is evaluated when naively implementing the leading ${\cal O}(G_F m_{f'}^2)$ electroweak corrections. Including the exact next-to-leading order electroweak corrections leads to a strong suppression of the $H \to γγ$ rate and makes this channel unobservable with present data. Finally, we point out that the observation by the Tevatron collaborations of a $\gsim 2σ$ excess in the mass range $M_H = 115$-135 GeV in the channel $q\bar q \to WH \to Wb\bar b$ can definitely not be accommodated by the fourth generation fermion scenario. All in all, if the excesses observed at the LHC and the Tevatron are indeed due to a Higgs boson, they unambiguously exclude the perturbative fermionic fourth generation case. In passing, we also point out that the Tevatron excess definitely rules out the fermiophobic Higgs scenario as well as scenarios in which the Higgs couplings to gauge bosons and bottom quarks are significantly reduced.

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arXiv2012

Higgs production at the lHC

We analyze the production of Higgs particles at the early stage of the CERN large Hadron Collider with a 7 TeV center of mass energy (lHC). We first consider the case of the Standard Model Higgs boson that is mainly produced in the gluon-gluon fusion channel and to be detected in its decays into electroweak gauge bosons, $gg\to H \to WW,ZZ,γγ$. The production cross sections at $\sqrt s=7$ TeV and the decay branching ratios, including all relevant higher order QCD and electroweak corrections, are evaluated. An emphasis is put on the various theoretical uncertainties that affect the production rates: the significant uncertainties from scale variation and from the parametrization of the parton distribution functions as well as the uncertainties which arise due to the use of an effective field theory in the calculation of the next-to-next-to-leading order corrections. The parametric uncertainties stemming from the values of the strong coupling constant and the heavy quark masses in the Higgs decay branching ratios, which turn out to be non-negligible, are also discussed. The implications for different center of mass energies of the proton collider, $\sqrt s=8$-10 TeV as well as for the design energy $\sqrt s= 14$ TeV, are briefly summarized. We then discuss the production of the neutral Higgs particles of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model in the two main channels: gluon-gluon and bottom quark fusion leading to Higgs bosons which subsequently decay into tau lepton or $b$-quark pairs, $gg, b\bar b \to {\rm Higgs} \to τ^+τ^-,b\bar b$. The Higgs production cross sections at the $\lhc$ and the decay branching ratios are analyzed. The associated theoretical uncertainties are found to be rather large and will have a significant impact on the parameter space of the model that can be probed.

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arXiv2012

Implications of LHC searches for Higgs--portal dark matter

The search for the a Standard Model Higgs boson at the LHC is reaching a critical stage as the possible mass range for the particle has become extremely narrow and some signal at a mass of about 125 GeV is starting to emerge. We study the implications of these LHC Higgs searches for Higgs portal models of dark matter in a rather model independent way. Their impact on the cosmological relic density and on the direct detection rates are studied in the context of generic scalar, vector and fermionic thermal dark matter particles. Assuming a sufficiently small invisible Higgs decay branching ratio, we find that current data, in particular from the XENON experiment, essentially exclude fermionic dark matter as well as light, i.e. with masses below 50 GeV, scalar and vector dark matter particles. Possible observation of these particles at the planned upgrade of the XENON experiment as well in collider searches is discussed.

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arXiv2012

Higgs Physics: Theory

I review the theoretical aspects of the physics of Higgs bosons, focusing on the elements that are relevant for the production and detection at present hadron colliders. After briefly summarizing the basics of electroweak symmetry breaking in the Standard Model, I discuss Higgs production at the LHC and at the Tevatron, with some focus on the main production mechanism, the gluon-gluon fusion process, and summarize the main Higgs decay modes and the experimental detection channels. I then briefly survey the case of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model. In a last section, I review the prospects for determining the fundamental properties of the Higgs particles once they have been experimentally observed.

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arXiv2011

The MSSM with heavy scalars

We perform a comprehensive analysis of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) in the scenario where the scalar partners of the fermions and the Higgs particles (except for the Standard-Model-like one) are assumed to be very heavy and are removed from the low-energy spectrum. We first summarize our determination of the mass spectrum, in which we include the one-loop radiative corrections and resum to all orders the leading logarithms of the large scalar masses, and describe the implementation of these features in the FORTRAN code SuSpect which calculates the masses and couplings of the MSSM particles. We then study in detail the phenomenology of the model in scenarios where the gaugino mass parameters are non-universal at the GUT scale, which leads to very interesting features that are not present in the widely studied case of universal gaugino mass parameters. We discuss the constraints from collider searches and high-precision measurements, the cosmological constraints on the relic abundance of the neutralino candidate for the Dark Matter in the Universe - where new and interesting channels for neutralino annihilation appear - and the gluino lifetime. We then analyze, in the case of non-universal gaugino masses, the decays of the Higgs boson (in particular decays into and contributions of SUSY particles), of charginos and neutralinos (in particular decays into Higgs bosons and photons) and of gluinos, and highlight the differences from the case of universal gaugino masses.

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arXiv2011

Clarifications on the impact of theoretical uncertainties on the Tevatron Higgs exclusion limits

In this note, we respond to the comments and criticisms made by the representatives of the CDF and D0 collaborations on our recent papers in which we point out that the theoretical uncertainties in the Higgs production cross section have been largely un- derestimated and, if properly taken into account, will significantly loosen the Tevatron Higgs exclusion bounds. We show that our approach to the theoretical uncertainties is reasonable and fully justified. In particular, we show that our procedure is not very different from that adopted by the LHC experiments and if the latter is used in the Tevatron case, one obtains much larger uncertainties that those assumed by the CDF and D0 collaborations. Furthermore, we provide additional details on our statistical analysis of the CDF and D0 exclusion limit and show that it is conceptually correct.

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arXiv2011

The forward-backward asymmetry of top quark production at the Tevatron in warped extra dimensional models

The CDF and D0 experiments have reported on the measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry of top quark pair production at the Tevatron and the result is that it is more than 2 standard deviations above the predicted value in the Standard Model. This has to be added to the longstanding anomaly in the forward-backward asymmetry for bottom quark production at LEP which is 3 standard deviations different from the Standard Model value. The discrepancy in the bottom asymmetry can be accounted for by the contributions of Kaluza-Klein excitations of electroweak gauge bosons at LEP in warped extra dimensional models in which the fermions are localized differently along the extra dimension so that the gauge interactions of heavy third generation fermions are naturally different from that of light fermions. In this paper, we show that it is more difficult to elaborate a model generating a significant top asymmetry in a similar way -- through exchanges of Kaluza-Klein gluons at the Tevatron -- due to the indirect constraints originating from precision electroweak data.

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arXiv2011

Revisiting the constraints on the Supersymmetric Higgs sector at the Tevatron

We analyze the production of the neutral Higgs particles of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. We consider the two main production and detection channels: gluon--gluon and bottom quark fusion leading to Higgs bosons which subsequently decay into tau leptons, $gg, b\bar b \to {\rm Higgs} \to τ^+τ^-$. We update the production cross sections and the decay branching ratios and obtain production rates that are significantly smaller at high masses than the ones used by the CDF and D0 experiments in their search. We then evaluate the various theoretical uncertainties that affect these rates, uncertainties that have not been been considered in the experimental analyses and which turn out to be rather large. Including these two effects will significantly loosen the constraints obtained on the supersymmetric Higgs sector at the Tevatron.

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arXiv2011

Implications of the ATLAS and CMS searches in the channel $pp \to Higgs \to τ^+τ^$ for the MSSM and SM Higgs bosons

We discuss the implications of the recent constraints on the Higgs sector of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model obtained by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the lHC with $\sqrt s=7$ TeV and 36 pb$^{-1}$ of data. The main production and detection channel that is relevant in these analyses is the gluon--gluon and bottom quark fusion mechanisms leading to neutral Higgs bosons which subsequently decay into tau lepton pairs, $gg, b\bar b \to Higgs \to τ^+τ^-$. In this note, we show that: i) the exclusion limits are in fact more general than indicated by the ATLAS and CMS analyses and are essentially independent of the scenario for the supersymmetric particle spectrum; ii) when the exclusion limits are applied to the lowest theory prediction for the Higgs production cross section times branching ratio, when all theoretical uncertainties are taken into account, the bounds are somewhat less stringent; iii) the exclusion limits from the $pp \to Higgs \to τ^+ τ^-$ process are so strong that only a modest improvement would be possible when other MSSM Higgs detection channels are considered, even with femtobarn level accumulated data. Finally and most important, we point out that the prospects for the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the inclusive $gg \to H \to τ^+τ^-$ channel, that is not currently considered by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations, turn out to be very promising and with a few inverse femtobarn data it might provide a convincing discovery signal in the difficult 115--135 GeV mass range for the standard Higgs boson.

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arXiv2010

Predictions for Higgs production at the Tevatron and the associated uncertainties

We update the theoretical predictions for the production cross sections of the Standard Model Higgs boson at the Fermilab Tevatron collider, focusing on the two main search channels, the gluon-gluon fusion mechanism $gg \to H$ and the Higgs-strahlung processes $q \bar q \to VH$ with $V=W/Z$, including all relevant higher order QCD and electroweak corrections in perturbation theory. We then estimate the various uncertainties affecting these predictions: the scale uncertainties which are viewed as a measure of the unknown higher order effects, the uncertainties from the parton distribution functions and the related errors on the strong coupling constant, as well as the uncertainties due to the use of an effective theory approach in the determination of the radiative corrections in the $gg \to H$ process at next-to-next-to-leading order. We find that while the cross sections are well under control in the Higgs--strahlung processes, the theoretical uncertainties are rather large in the case of the gluon-gluon fusion channel, possibly shifting the central values of the next-to-next-to-leading order cross sections by more than $\approx 40%$. These uncertainties are thus significantly larger than the $\approx 10%$ error assumed by the CDF and D0 experiments in their recent analysis that has excluded the Higgs mass range $M_H=$162-166 GeV at the 95% confidence level. These exclusion limits should be, therefore, reconsidered in the light of these large theoretical uncertainties.

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arXiv2008

The Higgs sector of supersymmetric theories and the implications for high-energy colliders

One of the main motivations for low energy supersymmetric theories is their ability to address the hierarchy and naturalness problems in the Higgs sector of the Standard Model. In these theories, at least two doublets of scalar fields are required to break the electroweak symmetry and to generate the masses of the elementary particles, resulting in a rather rich Higgs spectrum. The search for the Higgs bosons of Supersymmetry and the determination of their basic properties is one of the major goals of high--energy colliders and, in particular, the LHC which will soon start operation. We review the salient features of the Higgs sector of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and of some of its extensions and summarize the prospects for probing them at the LHC and at the future ILC.

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arXiv2007

Kaluza--Klein excitations of gauge bosons at the LHC

We consider the Randall-Sundrum extra dimensional model with fields propagating in the bulk based on an extended electroweak gauge symmetry with specific fermion charges and localizations that allow to explain the LEP anomaly of the forward--backward asymmetry for $b$--quarks, $A_{FB}^b$. We study the manifestations of the strongly--interacting and electroweak gauge boson Kaluza--Klein excitations $\vkk$ at the LHC, with masses of the order of a few TeV, which dominantly decays into top and bottom quark pairs. We first analyze the two--body tree--level production processes $pp \to t\bar t$ and $b\bar b$ in which the Kaluza--Klein (KK) excitations of gauge bosons are exchanged. We find that the additional channels can lead to a significant excess of events with respect to the Standard Model prediction; characteristic top quark polarization and angular asymmetries are quantitatively studied and turn out to probe the chiral structure of couplings to excited states. We then analyze higher order production processes for the gauge boson excitations which have too weak or no couplings to light quarks and, in particular, the loop induced process $gg \to \vkk \to t\bar t$ and $b\bar b$ in which the anomalous $gg \vkk $ four--dimensional vertex has to be regulated. The RS effects in this process, as well as in the four--body reactions $pp \to t\bar t b\bar b$, $t\bar t t\bar t$, $b\bar b b\bar b$ and in the related three--body reactions $gb \to b t \bar t$, $b b\bar b$, in which the $\vkk$ excitations are mainly radiated off the eavy quarks, are shown to be potentially difficult to test at LHC, due to small hase space and low parton density for $\mkk \gsim 3$ TeV.

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