Eur. Phys. J. C (2004) 36: 503-507
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s2004-01967-1

theoretical physics

Can an invisible Higgs boson be seen via diffraction at the LHC?

¹ Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Moscow, Russia
² Center for Cosmoparticle Physics “Cosmion” of Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, 125047, Moscow, Russia
³ Department of Physics and Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, University of Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
⁴ Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, 188300, Gatchina, St. Petersburg, Russia

Abstract

We study the possibility of observing an “invisible” Higgs boson in central exclusive diffractive production at the LHC. We evaluate the cross section using, as a simple example, the standard model with a heavy fourth generation, where the invisible decay mode dominates, with the heavy neutrino mass GeV. We discuss the possible requirements on trigger conditions and the background processes.