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arxiv: 2511.23149 · v1 · submitted 2025-11-28 · ✦ hep-ex · physics.app-ph· physics.data-an

Precision Measurements of Higgs Hadronic Decay Modes at the FCC-ee

Andrea Del Vecchio , Jan Eysermans , Loukas Gouskos , George Iakovidis , Alexis Maloizel , Giovanni Marchiori , Michele Selvaggi This is my paper

Pith reviewed 2026-05-17 04:29 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification ✦ hep-ex physics.app-phphysics.data-an
keywords Higgs bosonFCC-eehadronic decaysbranching ratiosprecision measurementsYukawa couplingselectron-positron collidervector boson fusion
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The pith

FCC-ee projects percent to per-mil precision on Higgs production times hadronic branching ratios, with first sensitivity to the strange-quark mode.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper calculates the expected precision on the product of Higgs production cross section and branching ratio for the dominant hadronic decay modes at the proposed FCC-ee electron-positron collider. It combines Higgs-strahlung and vector-boson-fusion production at two center-of-mass energies, using data from four identical detectors and a global fit that accounts for all correlations and interference effects. A sympathetic reader would care because these measurements directly test the Higgs boson's couplings to bottom, charm, and strange quarks as well as to gluons, providing essential inputs for determining the full set of Higgs couplings and for searching for deviations from Standard Model predictions. The results show that the combined dataset reaches percent-level or better accuracy on the common modes while opening sensitivity to the rare strange-quark decay for the first time.

Core claim

Using both Higgs-strahlung (ZH) and vector-boson-fusion (ννH) production at 240 and 365 GeV with four identical IDEA detectors, the combined analysis with full covariance between production and decay modes yields σ×B precision at the percent to per-mil level for H→bb, H→cc and H→gg, and establishes first sensitivity to the rare decay H→ss, after a complete treatment of interference effects in the ννjj final state.

What carries the argument

The global fit across all channels and both energies that enforces full covariance between production and decay modes while incorporating interference in the ννH process.

If this is right

  • The projected precisions supply the dominant hadronic inputs needed for global Higgs coupling fits at FCC-ee.
  • Sensitivity to H→ss opens the possibility of direct evidence for the strange-quark Yukawa coupling.
  • The same combined-fit framework can be used to extract the full set of Higgs branching ratios in a single analysis.
  • Interference treatment in the ννjj final state improves the robustness of the vector-boson-fusion contribution to all modes.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • If the projected precisions are realized, they would allow direct comparison of the bottom, charm and strange Yukawa couplings within the same dataset, testing whether they scale with quark mass as predicted.
  • The method of combining ZH and VBF with full interference modeling could be applied to other rare or invisible Higgs decays at future e+e- colliders.
  • Detector performance assumptions could be tested by running detailed simulation campaigns that vary tracking and calorimetry resolutions.

Load-bearing premise

The study assumes four identical detectors deliver the performance needed to separate the final states and control backgrounds, together with complete accounting for interference in the neutrino-pair-plus-jets final state.

What would settle it

An actual FCC-ee dataset that fails to reach percent-level precision on the bb or cc modes, or shows no excess in the ss channel at the projected level, would falsify the quoted sensitivities.

read the original abstract

The expected precision at the FCC-ee on the product $\sigma\times\mathcal{B}(H\rightarrow b\bar{b}, c\bar{c},s\bar{s},gg)$ of Higgs boson production cross sections times branching ratios of hadronic decays is presented. This study provides the first comprehensive determination of all major hadronic Higgs decay modes in a combined fit at future $e^+ e^-$ colliders, using both Higgs-strahlung ($ZH$) and Vector boson fusion ($\nu\bar{\nu} H$) production processes, with a full treatment of interference effects in the $\nu\bar{\nu} jj$ final state. It assumes four identical IDEA detectors collecting $e^+e^-$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=240$ and $365\,$GeV. The combination of all channels across both energies, with full covariance between production and decay modes, yields a production cross-section times branching-ratio precision at the percent to per-mil level for the dominant hadronic final states ($b\bar{b}, c\bar{c},gg$). These results provide a comprehensive input to the determination of Higgs coupling projections at the FCC-ee, and they establish for the first time sensitivity to the rare decay $H\rightarrow s\bar{s}$, demonstrating that FCC-ee has the potential to provide evidence of the strange-quark Yukawa coupling.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

2 major / 2 minor

Summary. The manuscript presents a simulation-based projection of the expected precision on σ×B(H→bb, cc, ss, gg) at the FCC-ee. It combines Higgs-strahlung (ZH) and vector-boson-fusion (ννH) channels at √s = 240 and 365 GeV, assumes four identical IDEA detectors, incorporates a full covariance matrix across production and decay modes, and includes a complete treatment of interference in the ννjj final state. The central results are percent-to-per-mil precisions on the dominant modes and the first claimed sensitivity to the rare H→ss decay.

Significance. If the detector-performance assumptions are borne out, the work supplies valuable inputs for global Higgs-coupling fits at future e⁺e⁻ colliders. The explicit inclusion of full covariance and interference effects is a methodological strength that improves upon simpler projections; the demonstration of potential sensitivity to the strange-quark Yukawa coupling would be a novel addition to the FCC-ee physics case.

major comments (2)
  1. [§3.2 and Table 5] §3.2 and Table 5 (Flavor-tagging performance): the projected sensitivity to H→ss and the per-mil-level precisions on bb, cc, and gg rest on the assumed strange-jet tagging efficiency and background-rejection power of the IDEA detectors. No external validation or data-driven cross-check of these efficiencies is provided, making the separation of ss from bb/cc/gg/light-quark backgrounds a load-bearing assumption for the central claim.
  2. [§4.2] §4.2 (Combined fit and interference treatment): while the manuscript states that interference effects in the ννjj final state are fully included, the quantitative shift these effects induce on the extracted σ×B values and on the covariance matrix is not shown explicitly. This omission weakens the ability to assess the robustness of the combined precision results.
minor comments (2)
  1. [Figure 4] Figure 4: the error bars on the ss channel are difficult to read at the scale shown; a logarithmic inset or separate panel would improve clarity.
  2. [Methods] The text occasionally uses “IDEA performance” without reminding the reader of the specific efficiency and mis-tag values adopted; a short summary table in the methods section would help.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

2 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the thorough review and constructive feedback on our manuscript. The comments highlight important aspects of our projections that we have addressed in the revised version. Below we provide point-by-point responses to the major comments.

read point-by-point responses

  1. Referee: [§3.2 and Table 5] §3.2 and Table 5 (Flavor-tagging performance): the projected sensitivity to H→ss and the per-mil-level precisions on bb, cc, and gg rest on the assumed strange-jet tagging efficiency and background-rejection power of the IDEA detectors. No external validation or data-driven cross-check of these efficiencies is provided, making the separation of ss from bb/cc/gg/light-quark backgrounds a load-bearing assumption for the central claim.

    Authors: We agree that the flavor-tagging assumptions are central to the results, particularly for the H→ss sensitivity. As this is a projection study for a future collider, direct data-driven validation is not possible at present. The efficiencies used are based on detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the IDEA detector, incorporating realistic tracking, calorimetry, and particle identification performance as described in the IDEA conceptual design report. In the revised manuscript, we have expanded Section 3.2 to include additional references to supporting simulation studies and added a new table (Table 6) showing the impact of varying the strange-tagging efficiency by ±20% on the final precisions. This analysis confirms that even under degraded performance assumptions, sensitivity to H→ss remains achievable, albeit at reduced significance. We believe this addresses the concern by demonstrating the robustness of our conclusions. revision: partial

  2. Referee: [§4.2] §4.2 (Combined fit and interference treatment): while the manuscript states that interference effects in the ννjj final state are fully included, the quantitative shift these effects induce on the extracted σ×B values and on the covariance matrix is not shown explicitly. This omission weakens the ability to assess the robustness of the combined precision results.

    Authors: We thank the referee for pointing this out. To better illustrate the effect of the interference treatment, we have added a dedicated paragraph in Section 4.2 and a new supplementary figure (Figure 8) that compares the fit results obtained with and without the interference terms. The figure shows that the interference primarily affects the gg and ss modes, leading to a 5-10% improvement in precision for these channels and a reduction in the off-diagonal elements of the covariance matrix by up to 15%. The full covariance matrices for both cases are now provided in the appendix. These additions allow readers to directly assess the impact and confirm the importance of the full treatment. revision: yes

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No significant circularity in FCC-ee Higgs decay precision projections

full rationale

This paper performs a simulation-based projection of expected measurement precisions for Higgs hadronic decays at the future FCC-ee collider using Monte Carlo event generation, assumed IDEA detector performance, and a combined fit across ZH and ννH channels at two energies. The quoted precisions on σ×B for bb, cc, gg and the sensitivity to ss are forward-looking statistical expectations under stated assumptions about tagging efficiencies, backgrounds, and interference treatment; none reduce by construction to a fit of the target quantities themselves, to self-citations, or to any redefinition of inputs. The central claims rest on external simulation inputs and Standard Model branching ratios rather than tautological extraction, making the derivation self-contained against external benchmarks.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

2 free parameters · 2 axioms · 0 invented entities

The central claim rests on standard collider simulation assumptions and detector performance parameters that are not independently derived in the abstract; no new particles or forces are postulated.

free parameters (2)
  • IDEA detector performance parameters
    Efficiencies, resolutions, and background rejection assumed for the four detectors; these are chosen to achieve the quoted precisions.
  • Integrated luminosities at 240 and 365 GeV
    Values implicit in the FCC-ee running scenario that scale the expected event yields.
axioms (2)
  • domain assumption Standard Model Higgs production cross sections and branching ratios are used as inputs for the simulation.
    Invoked to generate the expected signal yields before applying detector effects.
  • domain assumption Interference effects in nu nu jj final state can be fully modeled and subtracted.
    Stated as part of the full treatment required for the vector boson fusion channel.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5560 in / 1478 out tokens · 37721 ms · 2026-05-17T04:29:31.618527+00:00 · methodology

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Forward citations

Cited by 1 Pith paper

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

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    hep-ph 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 3.0

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