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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Constraint on the total width of the Higgs boson from Higgs boson and four-top-quark measurements in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This Letter presents a constraint on the total width of the Higgs boson (Γ H ) using a combined measurement of on-shell Higgs boson production and the production of four top quarks, which involves contributions from off-shell Higgs boson-mediated processes. This method relies on the assumption that the tree-level Higgs-top Yukawa coupling strength is the same for on-shell and off-shell Higgs boson production processes, thereby avoiding any assumptions about the relationship between on-shell and off-shell gluon fusion Higgs production rates, which were central to previous measurements. The result is based on up to 140 fb -1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limit on Γ H is 450 MeV (75 MeV). Additionally, considering the constraint on the Higgs-top Yukawa coupling from loop-induced Higgs boson production and decay processes further yields an observed (expected) upper limit of 160 MeV (55 MeV).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Search for a heavy charged Higgs boson decaying into a W boson and a Higgs boson in final states with leptons and b-jets in s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

This article presents a search for a heavy charged Higgs boson produced in association with a top quark and a bottom quark, and decaying into a W boson and a 125 GeV Higgs boson h. The search is performed in final states with one charged lepton, missing transverse momentum, and jets using proton-proton collision data at s$$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the LHC at CERN. This data set corresponds to a total integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. The search is conducted by examining the reconstructed invariant mass distribution of the Wh candidates for evidence of a localised excess in the charged Higgs boson mass range from 250 GeV to 3 TeV. No significant excess of data over the expected background is observed and 95% confidence-level upper limits between 2.8 pb and 1.2 fb are placed on the production cross-section times branching ratio for charged Higgs bosons decaying into Wh.

Aad, G↗
DOE OSTI2025

A search for dark matter produced in association with a dark Higgs boson decaying into a Higgs boson pair in 3b or 4b final states using pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is performed for dark matter particles produced in association with a resonant pair of Higgs bosons using 140 fb −1 of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. This signature is expected in some extensions of the Standard Model predicting the production of dark matter particles, and is interpreted in terms of a dark Higgs model containing a Z′ mediator in which the dark Higgs boson s decays into a pair of Higgs bosons. The dark Higgs boson is reconstructed through final states with at least three b-tagged jets, produced by the pair of Higgs boson decays, in events with significant missing transverse momentum consistent with the presence of dark matter. The observed data are found to be in good agreement with Standard Model predictions, constraining scenarios with dark Higgs boson masses within the range of 250 to 400 GeV and Z′ mediators up to 2.3 TeV.

Dark Energy and Dark Matter↗
DOE OSTI2025

Constraining off-shell Higgs boson production and the Higgs boson total width using WW → ℓνℓν final states with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of off-shell Higgs boson production is performed in the H* → WW channel. The measurement uses a proton–proton collision dataset with an integrated luminosity of 140 fb -1 collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Final states in which both W bosons decay leptonically are targeted, and events are categorised based on the flavour of the final-state leptons, the jet multiplicity, and the output of neural network-based classifiers. The data are found to be compatible with the Standard Model expectation. An observed (expected) upper bound on the 95 % symmetric confidence level interval is set on the rate of off-shell Higgs boson production at a value of 3.4 (4.4) times the Standard Model prediction. These results are combined with the results from the measurement of on-shell Higgs boson production in the same final states to obtain an observed (expected) upper bound at 95 % confidence level on the Higgs boson total width of 13.1 (17.3) MeV.

Aad, G. [Aix-Marseille Univ., Marseille (France)] ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Search for a heavy pseudoscalar Higgs boson decaying to a 125 GeV Higgs boson and a Z boson in final states with two tau and two light leptons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

A search for a heavy pseudoscalar Higgs boson, A, decaying to a 125 GeV Higgs boson h and a Z boson is presented. The h boson is identified via its decay to a pair of tau leptons, while the Z boson is identified via its decay to a pair of electrons or muons. The search targets the production of the A boson via the gluon-gluon fusion process, gg → A, and in association with bottom quarks, $b\overline{b}A$. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1 collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. Constraints are set on the product of the cross sections of the A production mechanisms and the A → Zh decay branching fraction. The observed (expected) upper limit at 95% confidence level ranges from 0.049 (0.060) pb to 1.02 (0.79) pb for the gg → A process and from 0.053 (0.059) pb to 0.79 (0.61) pb for the $b\overline{b}A$ process in the probed range of the A boson mass, mA, from 225 GeV to 1 TeV. The results of the search are used to constrain parameters within the $M^{125}_{h,EFT}$ benchmark scenario of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Values of tan β below 2.2 are excluded in this scenario at 95% confidence level for all mA values in the range from 225 to 350 GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Search for light pseudoscalar boson pairs produced from Higgs boson decays using the 4τ and 2μ2τ final states in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV

A search for a pair of light pseudoscalar bosons (a 1 ) produced in the decay of the 125 GeV Higgs boson is presented. The analysis examines decay modes where one a 1 decays into a pair of tau leptons and the other decays into either another pair of tau leptons or a pair of muons. The a1 boson mass probed in this study ranges from 4 to 15 GeV. The data sample was recorded by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1 . No excess above standard model (SM) expectations is observed. The study combines the 4τ and 2μ2τ channels to set upper limits at 95% confidence level (CL) on the product of the Higgs boson production cross section and the branching fraction to the 4τ final state, relative to the Higgs boson production cross section predicted by the SM. In this interpretation, the a 1 boson is assumed to have Yukawa-like couplings to fermions, with coupling strengths proportional to the respective fermion masses. The observed (expected) upper limits range between 0.007 (0.011) and 0.079 (0.066) across the mass range considered. The results are also interpreted in the context of models with two Higgs doublets and an additional complex singlet field (2HD+S). The tightest constraints are obtained for the Type III 2HD+S model. In this case, assuming the Higgs boson production cross section equals the SM prediction, values of the branching ratio for the Higgs boson decay into a pair of a1 bosons exceeding 16% are excluded at 95% CL for a1 boson masses between 5 and 15 GeV and tan β > 2, with the exception of scenarios in which the a1 boson mixes with charm or bottom quark-antiquark bound states.

Higgs physics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Constraints on the Higgs boson self-coupling from the combination of single and double Higgs boson production in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

The Higgs boson (H) trilinear self-coupling, λ 3 , is constrained via its measured properties and limits on the HH pair production using the proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV . The combination of event categories enriched in single-H and HH events is used to measure κ λ , defined as the value of λ 3 normalized to its standard model prediction, while simultaneously constraining the Higgs boson couplings to fermions and vector bosons. Values of κ λ outside the interval -1.2 < κ λ < 7.5 are excluded at 2σ confidence level, which is compatible with the expected range of -2.0 < κ λ < 7.7 under the assumption that all other Higgs boson couplings are equal to their standard model predicted values. Relaxing the assumption on the Higgs couplings to fermions and vector bosons the observed (expected) κ λ interval is constrained to be within -1.4 < κ λ < 7.8 (-2.3 < κ λ < 7.8) at 2σ confidence level.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Search for Light Pseudoscalar Bosons, Pair-Produced in Higgs Boson Decays in the Four-Electron Final State in Proton-Proton Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV

A search for pairs of light neutral pseudoscalar bosons (𝐴) resulting from the decay of a Higgs boson is performed. The search is conducted using LHC proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV, collected with the CMS detector in 2016–2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1 . The 𝐴 boson decays into a highly collimated electron-positron pair. A novel multivariate algorithm using tracks and calorimeter information is developed to identify these distinctive signatures, and events are selected with two such merged electron-positron pairs. No significant excess above the standard model background predictions is observed. Upper limits on the branching fraction for 𝐻 → 𝐴⁢𝐴 → 4⁢𝑒 are set at 95% confidence level, for masses between 10 and 100 MeV and proper decay lengths below 100 μ⁢m, reaching branching fraction sensitivities as low as 10 −5 . This is the first search for Higgs boson decays to four electrons via light pseudoscalars at the LHC. It significantly improves the experimental sensitivity to axionlike particles with masses below 100 MeV.

Hayrapetyan, A. [Yerevan Physics Institute]↗
DOE OSTI2025

Sensitivity to longitudinal vector boson scattering and doubly charged Higgs boson production in $W^± W^± jj$ at future hadron colliders

We study the sensitivity to longitudinal vector boson scattering at a 27-, 50-, and 100-TeV pp collider using events containing two leptonically decaying same-electric-charge 𝑊 bosons produced in association with two jets. The baseline FCC-hh detector parametrization within the D ELPHES framework is used under the assumption of fully efficient pileup mitigation. A tightly constrained phase space with a dijet mass greater than 2 TeV is considered in order to suppress the impact of potential instrumental backgrounds. Based on this setup, the expected sensitivity to the production of longitudinally polarized same-sign 𝑊 boson pairs is evaluated. Additionally, expected limits are set on doubly charged Higgs bosons produced via vector boson fusion processes and decaying to same-sign 𝑊 boson pairs.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of the Higgs boson width using the ZZ final state

A measurement of the Higgs boson width via its decay to two Z bosons is presented using data from the CMS experiment. A combination of the on- and off-shell Higgs boson production decaying to four leptons is used to determine the Higgs boson width. An assumption that no new virtual particles affect the production is tested by adding new heavy particles in the gluon fusion loop model. This result is combined with a previous CMS analysis of the off-shell Higgs boson production with decay to two leptons and two neutrinos, giving a measured Higgs boson width of 3.0^{+2.0}_{−1.5} MeV, in agreement with the standard model prediction of 4.1 MeV. The strength of the off-shell Higgs boson production is also tested. The scenario of no off-shell Higgs boson production is excluded at a confidence level corresponding to 3.8 standard deviations.

Srivastav, Mohit [Johns Hopkins U.]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Searches for Higgs boson production through decays of heavy resonances

The discovery of the Higgs boson has led to new possible signatures for heavy resonance searches at the LHC. Since then, search channels including at least one Higgs boson plus another particle have formed an important part of the program of new physics searches. In this report, the status of these searches by the CMS Collaboration is reviewed. Searches are discussed for resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons, a Higgs and a vector boson, or a Higgs boson and another new resonance. All analyses use proton–proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV in the years 2016–2018. A combination of the results of these searches is presented together with constraints on different beyond-the-standard model scenarios, including scenarios with extended Higgs sectors, heavy vector bosons and extra dimensions. Studies are shown for the first time by CMS on the validity of the narrow-width approximation in searches for the resonant production of a pair of Higgs bosons. The potential for a discovery at the High Luminosity LHC is also discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of the Higgs boson mass and width using the four-lepton final state in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ =13 TeV

A measurement of the Higgs boson mass and width via its decay to two 𝑍 bosons is presented. Proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, is used. The invariant mass distribution of four leptons in the on-shell Higgs boson decay is used to measure its mass and constrain its width. This yields the most precise single measurement of the Higgs boson mass to date, 125.04 ± 0.12 GeV, and an upper limit on the width Γ 𝐻 < 330 MeV at 95% confidence level. A combination of the on- and off-shell Higgs boson production decaying to four leptons is used to determine the Higgs boson width, assuming that no new virtual particles affect the production, a premise that is tested by adding new heavy particles in the gluon fusion loop model. This result is combined with a previous CMS analysis of the off-shell Higgs boson production with decay to two leptons and two neutrinos, giving a measured Higgs boson width of 3.0$^{+2.0}_{−1.5}$ MeV, in agreement with the standard model prediction of 4.1 MeV. The strength of the off-shell Higgs boson production is also reported. The scenario of no off-shell Higgs boson production is excluded at a confidence level corresponding to 3.8 standard deviations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Combination and interpretation of differential Higgs boson production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=13 $ TeV

Precision measurements of Higgs boson differential production cross sections are a key tool to probe the properties of the Higgs boson and test the standard model. New physics can affect both Higgs boson production and decay, leading to deviations from the distributions that are expected in the standard model. In this paper, combined measurements of differential spectra in a fiducial region matching the experimental selections are performed, based on analyses of four Higgs boson decay channels (γγ, ZZ$^{(*)}$, WW$^{(*)}$, and ττ) using proton-proton collision data recorded with the CMS detector at $ \sqrt{s}=13 $ TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{−1}$. The differential measurements are extrapolated to the full phase space and combined to provide the differential spectra. A measurement of the total Higgs boson production cross section is also performed using the γγ and ZZ decay channels, with a result of $ {53.4}_{-2.9}^{+2.9}{\left(\textrm{stat}\right)}_{-1.8}^{+1.9}\left(\textrm{syst}\right) $ pb, consistent with the standard model prediction of 55.6 ± 2.5 pb. The fiducial measurements are used to compute limits on Higgs boson couplings using the κ-framework and the SM effective field theory.[graphic not available: see fulltext]

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Study of WH production through vector boson scattering and extraction of the relative sign of the W and Z couplings to the Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

A search for the production of a W boson and a Higgs boson through vector boson scattering (VBS) is presented, using CMS data from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV collected from 2016 to 2018. The integrated luminosity of the data sample is 138 fb −1 . Selected events must be consistent with the presence of two jets originating from VBS, the leptonic decay of the W boson to an electron or muon, possibly also through an intermediate τ lepton, and a Higgs boson decaying into a pair of b quarks, reconstructed as either a single merged jet or two resolved jets. A measurement of the process as predicted by the standard model (SM) is performed alongside a study of beyond-the-SM (BSM) scenarios. The SM analysis sets an observed (expected) 95% co­fidence level upper limit of 14.3 (9.9) on the ratio of the measured VBS WH cross section to that expected by the SM. The BSM analysis, conducted within the so-called 𝜅 framework, excludes all scenarios with 𝜆 WZ < 0 that are consistent with current measurements, where 𝜆 WZ = 𝜅 W ∕𝜅 Z and 𝜅 W and 𝜅 Z are the HWW and HZZ coupling mod­fiers, respectively. The significance of the exclusion is beyond 5 standard deviations, and it is consistent with the SM expectation of 𝜆 WZ = 1.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Combined measurements and interpretations of Higgs boson production and decay in proton–proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

Combined measurements of Higgs boson production and decay rates are reported, representing the most comprehensive study performed by the CMS Collaboration to date. The included analyses use proton–proton collision data recorded by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV from 2016 to 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb –1 . The statistical combination is based on analyses that measure the following decay channels: H → γγ, H → ZZ, H → WW, H → ππ, H → bb, H → μμ, and H → Zγ. Information in the events from each decay channel is used to target multiple Higgs boson production processes. Searches for invisible Higgs boson decays are also considered, as well as an analysis that measures off-shell Higgs boson production in the H → ZZ → 4$\ell$ ($\ell$ = e, μ) decay channel. The best fit inclusive signal yield is measured to be 1.014$^{+0.055}_{–0.053}$ times the standard model (SM) expectation, for a Higgs boson mass of 125.38 GeV. Measurements in kinematic regions defined by the simplified template cross section framework are also provided, as well as interpretations in the coupling modifier and SM effective field theory frameworks. The coupling modifier interpretation is further used to place constraints on various two-Higgs-doublet models. The results show good compatibility with the SM predictions for the majority of the measured parameters.

CMS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reconstruction of boosted and resolved multi-Higgs-boson events with symmetry-preserving attention networks

The production of multiple Higgs bosons at the CERN LHC provides a direct way to measure the trilinear and quartic Higgs self-interaction strengths as well as potential access to beyond the standard model effects that can enhance production at large transverse momentum p T . The largest event fraction arises from the fully hadronic final state in which every Higgs boson decays to a bottom quark-antiquark pair ($b\bar{b}$). This introduces a combinatorial challenge known as the jet assignment problem: assigning jets to sets representing Higgs boson candidates. Symmetry-preserving attention networks (SPA-Nets) have been developed to address this challenge. However, the complexity of jet assignment increases when simultaneously considering both H → $b\bar{b}$ reconstruction possibilities, i.e., two “resolved” small-radius jets each containing a shower initiated by a b quark or one “boosted” large-radius jet containing a merged shower initiated by a $b\bar{b}$ pair. The latter improves the reconstruction efficiency at high p T . In this work, we introduce a generalization to the SPA-Net approach to simultaneously consider both boosted and resolved reconstruction possibilities and unambiguously interpret an event as “fully resolved”, “fully boosted”, or in between. We report the performance of baseline methods, the original SPA-Net approach, and our generalized version on nonresonant HH and HHH production at the LHC. Considering both boosted and resolved topologies, our SPA-Net approach increases the Higgs boson reconstruction purity by 56–80% and the efficiency by 37–38% compared to the baseline method depending on the final state.

Higgs Production↗
DOE OSTI2026

Search for Higgs boson pair production in the $\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}\mathrm{WW}$ decay channel with two leptons in the final state using proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13.6$ TeV

A search for Higgs boson pair production is presented, targeting final states where one Higgs boson decays to a bottom quark-antiquark pair and the other Higgs boson decays to two W bosons, both of which decay leptonically, to an electron or a muon, and a neutrino. For the first time, the search is conducted with proton-proton collision data from the LHC at $\sqrt{s}=13.6$ TeV, recorded with the CMS detector in 2022 and 2023 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 62 fb −1 . The results are consistent with the standard model predictions. An upper limit of 12.0 times the standard model prediction at 95% confidence level is set on the Higgs boson pair production cross section, with an expected limit of 18.5. The results are also used to constrain the strength of the trilinear self-coupling of the Higgs boson, as well as of the quartic coupling between two Higgs bosons and two vector bosons.

Hadron-Hadron Scattering↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of off-shell Higgs boson production in the $H^*\rightarrow ZZ\rightarrow 4\ell$ decay channel using a neural simulation-based inference technique in 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of off-shell Higgs boson production in the $H^*\to ZZ\to 4\ell$ decay channel is presented. The measurement uses 140 fb −1 of proton–proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider and supersedes the previous result in this decay channel using the same dataset. The data analysis is performed using a neural simulation-based inference method, which builds per-event likelihood ratios using neural networks. The observed (expected) off-shell Higgs boson production signal strength in the $ZZ\to 4\ell$ decay channel at 68% CL is $0.87^{+0.75}_{-0.54}$ ($1.00^{+1.04}_{-0.95}$ ). The evidence for off-shell Higgs boson production using the $ZZ\to 4\ell$ decay channel has an observed (expected) significance of 2.5σ (1.3σ). The expected result represents a significant improvement relative to that of the previous analysis of the same dataset, which obtained an expected significance of 0.5σ. When combined with the most recent ATLAS measurement in the $ZZ\to 2\ell 2\nu$ decay channel, the evidence for off-shell Higgs boson production has an observed (expected) significance of 3.7σ (2.4σ). The off-shell measurements are combined with the measurement of on-shell Higgs boson production to obtain constraints on the Higgs boson total width. The observed (expected) value of the Higgs boson width at 68% CL is $4.3^{+2.7}_{-1.9}$ ($4.1^{+3.5}_{-3.4}$ ) MeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗