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M. Muhlleitner

Publications and source records attributed to M. Muhlleitner.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2022

Higgs Properties and Supersymmetry: Constraints and Sensitivity from the LHC to an $e^+e^-$ Collider

The study of the Higgs boson properties offers compelling perspectives for testing the effects of physics beyond the Standard Model and has deep implications for the LHC program and future colliders. Accurate determinations of the Higgs boson properties can provide us with a distinctively precise picture of the Higgs sector, set tight bounds, and predict ranges for the values of new physics model parameters. In this paper, we discuss the constraints on supersymmetry that can be derived by a determination of the Higgs boson mass and couplings. We quantify these constraints by using scans of the 19-parameter space of the so-called phenomenological minimal supersymmetric Standard Model. The fraction of scan points that can be excluded by the Higgs measurements is studied for the coupling measurement accuracies obtained in LHC Run 2 and expected for the HL-LHC program and $e^+e^-$ colliders and contrasted with those derived from missing transverse energy searches at the LHC and from dark matter experiments.

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arXiv2021

BSMPT v2 A Tool for the Electroweak Phase Transition and the Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe in Extended Higgs Sectors

We present the C++ code BSMPT v2 which is an extension of the previous code BSMPT for the calculation of the strength of the electroweak phase transition in extended Higgs sectors. The new version BSMPT v2 includes the features of BSMPT and extends the already implemented models (the 2-Higgs-Doublet model (2HDM) in its CP-conserving and CP-violating versions and the Next-to-2HDM) by the Complex Singlet Extension of the Standard Model (CxSM). The major upgrade is the implementation of the computation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe (at present for the C2HDM) in two different approximation, called the FH and the VIA approach. Furthermore, the possibility of varying the renormalisation scale in the loop-corrected effective potential has been added. These changes and further smaller modifications are described in this manual. Additionally, a detailed explanation of the procedure for the implementation of new models is given, which has also changed with respect to the previous version.

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arXiv2019

Impact of Electroweak Corrections on Neutral Higgs Boson Decays in Extended Higgs Sectors

Precision predictions play an important role in the search for indirect New Physics effects in the Higgs sector itself. For the electroweak (EW) corrections of the Higgs bosons in extended Higgs sectors several renormalization schemes have been worked out that provide gauge-parameter-independent relations between the input parameters and the computed observables. Our recently published program codes 2HDECAY and ewN2HDECAY allow for the computation of the EW corrections to the Higgs decay widths and branching ratios of the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) and the Next-to-Minimal-2HDM (N2HDM) for different renormalization schemes of the scalar mixing angles. In this paper, we present a comprehensive and complete overview over the relative size of the EW corrections to the branching ratios of the 2HDM and N2HDM neutral Higgs bosons for different applied renormalization schemes. We quantify the size of the EW corrections of Standard Model(SM)- and non-SM-like Higgs bosons and moreover also identify renormalization schemes that are well-behaved and do not induce unnaturally large corrections. We furthermore pin down decays and parameter regions that feature large EW corrections and need further treatment in order to improve the predictions. Our study sets the scene for future work in the computation of higher-order corrections to the decays of non-minimal Higgs sectors.

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arXiv2019

Gauge Dependences of Higher-Order Corrections to NMSSM Higgs Boson Masses and the Charged Higgs Decay $H^\pm \to W^\pm h_i$

In this paper we compute the electroweak corrections to the charged Higgs boson decay into a $W$ boson and a neutral Higgs boson in the CP-conserving NMSSM. We calculate the process in a general $R_ξ$ gauge and investigate the dependence of the loop-corrected decay width on the gauge parameter $ξ$. The gauge dependence arises from the mixing of different loop orders. Phenomenology requires the inclusion of mass and mixing corrections to the external Higgs bosons in order to match the experimentally measured mass values. As a result, we move away from a strict one-loop calculation and consequently mix orders in perturbation theory. Moreover, determination of the loop-corrected masses in an iterative procedure also results in the mixing of different loop orders. Gauge dependence then arises from the mismatch with tree-level Goldstone boson couplings that are applied in the loop calculation, and from the gauge dependence of the loop-corrected masses themselves. We find that the gauge dependence is significant.

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arXiv2017

Phenomenological Comparison of Models with Extended Higgs Sectors

Beyond the Standard Model (SM) extensions usually include extended Higgs sectors. Models with singlet or doublet fields are the simplest ones that are compatible with the $ρ$ parameter constraint. The discovery of new non-SM Higgs bosons and the identification of the underlying model requires dedicated Higgs properties analyses. In this paper, we compare several Higgs sectors featuring 3 CP-even neutral Higgs bosons that are also motivated by their simplicity and their capability to solve some of the flaws of the SM. They are: the SM extended by a complex singlet field (CxSM), the singlet extension of the 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (N2HDM), and the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric SM extension (NMSSM). In addition, we analyse the CP-violating 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (C2HDM), which provides 3 neutral Higgs bosons with a pseudoscalar admixture. This allows us to compare the effects of singlet and pseudoscalar admixtures. Through dedicated scans of the allowed parameter space of the models, we analyse the phenomenologically viable scenarios from the view point of the SM-like Higgs boson and of the signal rates of the non-SM-like Higgs bosons to be found. In particular, we analyse the effect of singlet/pseudoscalar admixture, and the potential to differentiate these models in the near future. This is supported by a study of couplings sums of the Higgs bosons to massive gauge bosons and to fermions, where we identify features that allow us to distinguish the models, in particular when only part of the Higgs spectrum is discovered. Our results can be taken as guidelines for future LHC data analyses, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments, to identify specific benchmark points aimed at revealing the underlying model.

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arXiv2017

Higgs Pair Production at NLO QCD for CP-violating Higgs Sectors

Higgs pair production through gluon fusion is an important process at the LHC to test the dynamics underlying electroweak symmetry breaking. Higgs sectors beyond the Standard Model (SM) can substantially modify this cross section through novel couplings not present in the SM or the on-shell production of new heavy Higgs bosons that subsequently decay into Higgs pairs. CP violation in the Higgs sector is important for the explanation of the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry through electroweak baryogenesis. In this work we compute the next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections in the heavy top quark limit, including the effects of CP violation in the Higgs sector. We choose the effective theory (EFT) approach, which provides a rather model-independent way to explore New Physics (NP) effects by adding dimension-6 operators, both CP-conserving and CP-violating ones, to the SM Lagrangian. Furthermore, we perform the computation within a specific UV-complete model and choose as benchmark model the general 2-Higgs-Doublet Model with CP violation, the C2HDM. Depending on the dimension-6 coefficients, the relative NLO QCD corrections are affected by several per cent through the new CP-violating operators. This is also the case for SM-like Higgs pair production in the C2HDM, while the relative QCD corrections in the production of heavier C2HDM Higgs boson pairs deviate more strongly from the SM case. The absolute cross sections both in the EFT and the C2HDM can be modified by more than an order of magnitude. In particular, in the C2HDM the resonant production of Higgs pairs can by far exceed the SM cross section.

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arXiv2017

Strong First Order Electroweak Phase Transition in the CP-Conserving 2HDM Revisited

The discovery of the Higgs boson by the LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS has marked a milestone for particle physics. Yet, there are still many open questions that cannot be answered within the Standard Model (SM). For example, the generation of the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe through baryogenesis can only be explained qualitatively in the SM. A simple extension of the SM compatible with the current theoretical and experimental constraints is given by the 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) where a second Higgs doublet is added to the Higgs sector. We investigate the possibility of a strong first order electroweak phase transition in the CP-conserving 2HDM type I and type II where either of the CP-even Higgs bosons is identified with the SM-like Higgs boson. The renormalisation that we apply on the loop-corrected Higgs potential allows us to efficiently scan the 2HDM parameter space and simultaneously take into account all relevant theoretical and up-to-date experimental constraints. The 2HDM parameter regions found to be compatible with the applied constraints and a strong electroweak phase transition are analysed systematically. Our results show that there is a strong interplay between the requirement of a strong phase transition and collider phenomenology with testable implications for searches at the LHC.

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arXiv2015

Exploring the CP-violating NMSSM: EDM Constraints and Phenomenology

The Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (NMSSM) features extra new sources for CP violation. In contrast to the MSSM CP violation can already occur at tree level in the Higgs sector. We investigate the range of possible allowed CP-violating phases by taking into account the constraints arising from the measurements of the Electric Dipole Moments (EDMs) and the latest LHC Higgs data. Our analysis shows that large CP-violating phases, that are NMSSM-specific, are not in conflict with the EDMs. They are dominantly constrained by the Higgs data in this case. We use our results to investigate the prospects of measuring CP violation through the combined measurement of Higgs rates, on the one hand, and in observables based on CP-violating Higgs couplings to tau leptons on the other hand.

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arXiv2015

The Order $\mathcal{O}(α_tα_s)$ Corrections to the Trilinear Higgs Self-Couplings in the Complex NMSSM

A consistent interpretation of the Higgs data requires the same precision in the Higgs boson masses and in the trilinear Higgs self-couplings, which are related through their common origin from the Higgs potential. In this work we provide the two-loop corrections at order ${\cal O}(α_t α_s)$ in the approximation of vanishing external momenta to the trilinear Higgs self-couplings in the CP-violating Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (NMSSM). In the top/stop sector two different renormalization schemes have been implemented, the OS and the $\overline{\text{DR}}$ scheme. The two-loop corrections to the self-couplings are of the order of 10\% in the investigated scenarios. The theoretical error, estimated both from the variation of the renormalization scale and from the change of the top/stop sector renormalization scheme, has been shown to be reduced due to the inclusion of the two-loop corrections.

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arXiv2015

Higgs Couplings and their Implications for New Physics Scales

In view of the absence of any direct sign of New Physics (NP) at the LHC, the precise investigation of the Higgs properties becomes more and more important in our quest for physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). Coupling measurements play here an important role and not only complement the reach of the LHC but, depending on the physics scenarios, also allow for tests of NP scales beyond the ones accessible at present colliders. In this context, various representative scenarios beyond the SM will be reviewed.

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arXiv2015

Next-to-Leading Order NMSSM Decays with CP-odd Higgs Bosons and Stops

We compute the full next-to-leading order supersymmetric (SUSY) electroweak (EW) and SUSY-QCD corrections to the decays of CP-odd NMSSM Higgs bosons into stop pairs. In our numerical analysis we also present the decay of the heavier stop into the lighter stop and an NMSSM CP-odd Higgs boson. Both the EW and the SUSY-QCD corrections are found to be significant and have to be taken into account for a proper prediction of the decay widths.

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arXiv2015

Higher-order QCD corrections to supersymmetric particle production and decay at the LHC

We review recent results on higher-order calculations to squark and gluino production and decay at the LHC, as obtained within the Collaborative Research Centre / Transregio 9 "Computational Particle Physics". In particular, we discuss inclusive cross sections, including the summation of threshold corrections, higher-order calculations for specific squark production channels and for top squark decays, and next-to-leading order calculations for exclusive observables matched to parton showers.

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arXiv2015

Higgs Physics

We discuss the interpretation of the LHC Higgs data and the test of the Higgs mechanism. This is done in a more model-independent approach relying on an effective Lagrangian, as well as in specific models like composite Higgs models and supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model. The proper interpretation of the data requires the inclusion of higher-order corrections both for the relevant Higgs parameters and the production and decay processes. We review recent results obtained within the Collaborative Research Centre / Transregio 9 "Computational Particle Physics".

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arXiv2015

Higgs Physics Beyond the Standard Model

Higgs physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) is presented in the context of an underlying strong dynamics of electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) as given by composite Higgs models. Subsequently, the study of New Physics (NP) effects in a more model-independent way through the effective Lagrangian approach is briefly sketched before moving on to the investigation of NP through Higgs coupling measurements. Depending on the precision on the extracted couplings, NP scales up to the TeV range can be probed at the high-luminosity option of the LHC, if the coupling deviations arise from mixing effects or from some underlying strong dynamics.

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arXiv2014

Non-Standard Higgs Decays in U(1) Extensions of the MSSM

In U(1) extensions of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model there is a simple mechanism that leads to a heavy Z' boson with a mass which is substantially larger than the supersymmetry breaking scale. This mechanism may also result in a pseudoscalar state that is light enough for decays of the 125 GeV Standard Model-like Higgs boson into a pair of such pseudoscalars to be kinematically allowed. We study these decays within E6 inspired supersymmetric models with an exact custodial symmetry that forbids tree-level flavor-changing transitions and the most dangerous baryon and lepton number violating operators. We argue that the branching ratio of the lightest Higgs boson decays into a pair of the light pseudoscalar states may not be negligibly small.

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arXiv2014

Light Stop Decays: Implications for LHC Searches

We investigate the flavour-changing neutral current decay of the lightest stop into a charm quark and the lightest neutralino and its four-body decay into the lightest neutralino, a down-type quark and a fermion pair. These are the relevant stop search channels in the low-mass region. The SUSY-QCD corrections to the two-body decay have been calculated for the first time and turn out to be sizeable. In the four-body decay both the contributions from diagrams with flavour-changing neutral current (FCNC) couplings and the mass effects of final state bottom quarks and $τ$ leptons have been taken into account, which are not available in the literature so far. The resulting branching ratios are investigated in detail. We find that in either of the decay channels the branching ratios can deviate significantly from one in large parts of the allowed parameter range. Taking this into account, the experimental exclusion limits on the stop, which are based on the assumption of branching ratios equal to one, are considerably weakened. This should be taken into account in future searches for light stops at the next run of the LHC, where the probed low stop mass region will be extended.

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arXiv2014

Discovery Prospects for NMSSM Higgs Bosons at the High-Energy Large Hadron Collider

We investigate the discovery prospects for NMSSM Higgs bosons during the 13~TeV run of the LHC. While one of the neutral Higgs bosons is demanded to have a mass around 125~GeV and Standard Model (SM)-like properties, there can be substantially lighter, nearby or heavier Higgs bosons, that have not been excluded yet by LEP, Tevatron or the 8~TeV run of the LHC. The challenge consists in discovering the whole NMSSM Higgs mass spectrum. We present the rates for production and subsequent decay of the neutral NMSSM Higgs bosons in the most promising final states and discuss their possible discovery. The prospects for pinning down the Higgs sector of the Natural NMSSM will be analysed taking into account alternative search channels. We give a series of benchmark scenarios compatible with the experimental constraints, that feature Higgs-to-Higgs decays and entail (exotic) signatures with multi-fermion and/or multi-photon final states. These decay chains furthermore give access to the trilinear Higgs self-couplings. We briefly discuss the possibility of exploiting coupling sum rules in case not all the NMSSM Higgs bosons are discovered.

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