Higgs Boson Production in Bottom-Quark Fusion to Third Order in the Strong Coupling

Area of Science:

• High Energy Physics
• Quantum Chromodynamics
• Particle Physics

Background:

• Higgs boson production is a key process in particle physics.
• Precise theoretical predictions are crucial for interpreting experimental data.
• Previous calculations were limited in perturbative accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compute the inclusive cross section for Higgs boson production via bottom-quark fusion.
• To achieve next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N³LO) accuracy in perturbative QCD.
• To improve the theoretical precision and reduce uncertainties in Higgs boson production predictions.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing the five-flavor scheme, treating the bottom quark as massless.
• Incorporating the non-vanishing Yukawa coupling between the bottom quark and the Higgs boson.
• Performing calculations within perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) to N³LO precision.

Main Results:

• The N³LO cross section shows substantially reduced dependence on renormalization and factorization scales.
• The perturbative expansion exhibits convergent behavior for judicious scale choices.
• Predictions are consistent with Santander matching of four- and five-flavor schemes, with a slightly higher central value.

Conclusions:

• The N³LO calculation provides a more precise prediction for Higgs boson production via bottom-quark fusion.
• Reduced scale dependence enhances the reliability of theoretical predictions.
• This work contributes to a better understanding of Higgs boson properties at high-energy colliders.