Di-Higgs boson peaks and top valleys: Interference effects in Higgs sector extensions
Philipp Basler, S. Dawson, Christoph Englert, Margarete Mühlleitner
Abstract
In models with extended scalars and $CP$ violation, resonance searches in double Higgs final states stand in competition with related searches in top quark final states as optimal channels for the discovery of beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics. This complementarity is particularly relevant for benchmark scenarios that aim to highlight multi-Higgs production as a standard candle for the study of BSM phenomena. In this paper, we compare interference effects in $t\overline{t}$ final states with correlated phenomena in double Higgs production in the complex singlet and the complex two-Higgs-doublet models. Our results indicate that the BSM discovery potential in di-Higgs searches can be underestimated in comparison to $t\overline{t}$ resonance searches. Top pair final states are typically suppressed due to destructive signal-background interference, while $hh$ final states can be enhanced due to signal-signal interference. For parameter choices where the two heavy Higgs resonances are well separated in mass, top final states are suppressed relative to the naive signal expectation, while estimates of the production cross section times branching ratio remain accurate at the $\mathcal{O}(10%)$ level for double Higgs final states.