Eur. Phys. J. C (2011) 71: 1724
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-011-1724-0

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

The Higgs sector of the minimal B−L model at future Linear Colliders

¹ School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
² Particle Physics Department, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 0QX, UK

^* e-mail: lb4x07@soton.ac.uk

Received: 17 May 2011
Revised: 30 June 2011
Published online: 23 August 2011

Abstract

We investigate the phenomenology of the Higgs sector of the minimal B−L extension of the Standard Model at a future e ⁺ e ⁻ Linear Collider. We consider the discovery potential of both a sub-TeV and a multi-TeV machine. We show that, within such a theoretical scenario, several novel production and decay channels involving the two physical Higgs states, precluded at the LHC, could experimentally be accessed at such machines. Amongst these, several Higgs signatures have very distinctive features with respect to those of other models with enlarged Higgs sector, as they involve interactions of Higgs bosons between themselves, with Z′ bosons as well as with heavy neutrinos. In particular, we present the scope of the Z′ strahlung process for single and double Higgs production, the only suitable mechanism enabling one to access an almost decoupled heavy scalar state (therefore outside the LHC range).