https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-018-6398-4
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Transversal modes and Higgs bosons in electroweak vector-boson scattering at the LHC
1
Department of Physics, University of Siegen, 57068, Siegen, Germany
2
CLICdp and Theory Group, CERN, 1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland
3
DESY Theory Group, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
4
Institute for Theoretical Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128, Karlsruhe, Germany
* e-mail: juergen.reuter@desy.de
Received:
18
July
2018
Accepted:
31
October
2018
Published online:
14
November
2018
Processes where W and Z bosons scatter into pairs of electroweak bosons W, Z, and Higgs, are sensitive probes of new physics in the electroweak sector. We study simplified models that describe typical scenarios of new physics and parameterize the range of possible LHC results between the standard-model prediction and unitarity limits. Extending the study beyond purely longitudinal scattering, we investigate the role of transversally polarized gauge bosons. Unitarity becomes an essential factor, and limits on parameters matched to the naive perturbative low-energy effective theory turn out to be necessarily model-dependent. We discuss the implications of our approach for the interpretation of LHC data on vector-boson scattering and Higgs-pair production.
© The Author(s), 2018
