https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09023-w
Regular Article – Theoretical Physics
Quantum interference effects in Higgs boson pair-production beyond the standard model
1
East African Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-EAIFR), University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
2
Center for Fundamental Physics, Zewail City of Science and Technology, 6 October City, Giza, Egypt
3
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Highfield, SO17 1BJ, Southampton, UK
4
Department of Physics, IIT Guwahati, 781039, Guwahati, Assam, India
5
Department of Physics, Concordia University, H4B 1R6, Montreal, QC, Canada
Received:
21
December
2020
Accepted:
4
March
2021
Published online:
21
April
2021
New physics frameworks like the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard Model and the Next-to-2-Higgs-doublet Model contain three neutral CP-even Higgs bosons. It is possible for the heavier two of these states to have masses identical to each other, which can result in a sizeable quantum interference between their propagators in processes they mediate. For both these models, we study the impact of such interference on the pair-production of the lightest of the three scalars, which we identify with the observed 125 GeV Higgs boson, in the gluon-fusion channel at the large hadron collider (LHC). We find that the inclusion of these effects can substantially alter the cross section, compared to its value when they are ignored, for this process. Our results illustrate the importance of taking possible quantum interference effects into account not only when investigating the phenomenology of extended Higgs sectors at the future Run(s) of the LHC, but also when imposing its current exclusion bounds on the parameter spaces of these models.
© The Author(s) 2021
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