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arXiv · 2404.08062

Di-Higgs production via Axion-Like Particles

Fabian Esser·Maeve Madigan·Alexandre Salas-Bernardez·Veronica Sanz·Maria Ubiali
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Abstract

Due to the pseudo-scalar nature of the axion-like particle (ALP), the CP- conserving production of two Higgs bosons via the ALP necessarily involves an additional Z or $\gamma$ boson. We examine the existing constraints from di-Higgs searches at Run 2 of the LHC and find that, despite the presence of extra objects in the final state, these searches are sensitive to a combination of ALP couplings to gluons and three-bosons in the TeV scale range. Additionally, we propose a specialized search strategy incorporating an energetic leptonic Z boson. This refined ALP-induced production process would allow for the identification of the h h $\rightarrow$ 4 b-jet final state and could potentially probe the TeV scale using data from Run 2 of the LHC. This production process can also occur through a coupling between the top quark and the ALP. We translate the current constraints on di-Higgs production into new limits on the ALP-top coupling.

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Fabian Esser, Maeve Madigan, Alexandre Salas-Bernardez, Veronica Sanz, Maria Ubiali. 2024-04-11. Di-Higgs production via Axion-Like Particles. https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.08062

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