Searching for Higgs Decays to as Many as 8 Leptons.

Area of Science:

• High Energy Physics
• Particle Physics
• Beyond Standard Model Physics

Background:

• The Standard Model of particle physics describes fundamental particles and forces.
• The Higgs boson plays a crucial role in mass generation.
• Exploring Higgs boson decays can uncover new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and analyze a search for Higgs boson decays resulting in up to 8 leptons.
• To investigate a specific theoretical model involving a hidden vector boson (A_d) and a hidden scalar (h_d).
• To set bounds on the branching ratio of the Higgs decay H→h_d h_d.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical modeling of Higgs decays into a hidden sector.
• Recasting existing experimental searches for multi-lepton final states.
• Proposing a dedicated search strategy for future analysis.

Main Results:

• A simple model predicts Higgs decays H→h_d h_d→4A_d→8f.
• Current experimental data allows for a branching ratio of H→h_d h_d up to 10%.
• A dedicated search could constrain this branching ratio down to 10^-5 with sufficient luminosity.

Conclusions:

• Higgs decays with multiple leptons are sensitive probes of new physics.
• The proposed search strategy can significantly constrain or discover new hidden sector models.
• Future high-luminosity experiments will enhance sensitivity to these rare Higgs decays.