REVIEW
Updated Global Analysis of Higgs Couplings
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology · Submitted 15 Mar 2013 · 36 references
Pith's verdict: A solid Moriond-2013 update of the Ellis–You Higgs coupling fit; the sign result is real but conditional on SM loop content, and the abstract hides that condition.
T0 · AI review
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Referee report
The paper
The paper claims
A global fit to the first full round of LHC Higgs data finds that the new particle's couplings to fermions and to heavy bosons carry the same relative sign as in the Standard Model, and that their sizes track particle masses almost exactly.
The reading
What carries the argument
The machinery is a global likelihood built channel by channel from published signal strengths, event counts, or 95% CL limits, then combined across experiments and subchannels — including separate 0-, 1- and 2-jet bins whose vector-boson-fusion content (2%, 12%, 81%) is what breaks degeneracies between production and decay couplings. That likelihood is then mapped onto two coupling parameterizations: the multiplicative $(a, c)$ rescaling of an effective Lagrangian in which $a$ and $c$ measure deviations from the Standard Model for bosons and fermions, and the mass-scaling $(M, epsilon)$ form that tests whether the couplings follow $m^{1+epsilon}$ and whether the scale is $v$. The 2-jet bins do specific work here: they exclude the band around $c sim 0$ where gluon-fusion production would fake the signal, which is what sharpens the sign discrimination. Named alternatives — the composite-Higgs MCHM4 line $a = c$, the MCHM5 curve, and the anti-dilaton line $c = -a$ — are drawn on the same plane so the reader can see which survive.
Extended reading notes
Core claim
Two claims carry the paper. First, the relative sign of the Higgs couplings to fermions and to massive vector bosons is now determined: the global minimum sits at $a = 1.03 pm 0.06$ and $c = 0.84 pm 0.15$, and the mirror branch with $c<0$ is disfavoured by $Delta chi^2 sim 9$. This is not a symmetry of the fit — it comes from interference between the top-quark and $W$-boson loops in $H to gammagamma$, so the newly reported CMS diphoton result, compatible with the Standard Model, is what tips the balance. Second, using the parameterization $lambda_f = sqrt{2}(m_f/M)^{1+epsilon}$ and $g_V = 2 m_V^{2(1+epsilon)}/M^{1+2epsilon}$, the authors find $M = 244^{+20}_{-10}$ GeV and $epsilon = -0.022^{+0.042}_{-0.021}$, with a likelihood penalty of only $Delta chi^2 = 0.12$ for the Standard Model point $(M, epsilon) = (246 text{ GeV}, 0)$. In other words the couplings are linear in mass to within a few percent and normalized by the conventional symmetry-breaking scale to within 10%. Subsidiary results: the loop-induced couplings come out at $c_gamma = 1.18 pm 0.12$ and $c_g = 0.88 pm 0.11$ when the tree-level couplings are held at their Standard Model values; the total Higgs width lies within 20% of the Standard Model at 68% confidence; and, assuming Standard Model couplings and no new loop contributions, the invisible branching ratio is bounded at 0.04 (68% CL) and 0.13 (95% CL).
Load-bearing premise
The sign preference rests on the authors' own reconstruction of the CMS diphoton likelihood, which they report as $mu = 0.72^{+0.24}_{-0.26}$ against the official $0.78^{+0.28}_{-0.26}$ and which they themselves say largely drives the result, so a modest change in that one channel's treatment could weaken the $Delta chi^2 sim 9$ separation.
Editorial extensions
If this is right
- The anti-dilaton scenario $c = -a$, and any model in which fermion and boson couplings enter with opposite relative sign, is excluded at roughly the $3sigma$ level by the current combination.
- The absence of a significant diphoton anomaly means there is no longer empirical pressure for extra charged particles in the $H gammagamma$ loop; any new physics there must be arranged to leave $c_g$ near unity, since $c_g = 0.88 pm 0.11$.
- Minimal composite-Higgs models remain viable only near the Standard Model limit, so the data already constrain the compositeness scale to be well above the electroweak scale in those constructions.
- Because the total width is pinned to within 20% of the Standard Model value, the room left for invisible or non-Standard Higgs decays is small: a few percent at 68% confidence under Standard Model assumptions.
Reading between the lines
- The sign discrimination is a statement about loop interference, not about a direct measurement of a fermion coupling sign; it therefore tests the *relative* structure of the $t$-quark and $W$ contributions to $H to gammagamma$, and a future independent extraction of that loop (for example from off-shell or high-$p_T$ Higgs production) would be a genuinely separate check.
- The $(M, epsilon)$ result suggests a natural next step: rather than fitting one global $(M, epsilon)$, fit separate exponents per fermion species, since the current data are already sensitive at the few-percent level and the $tau$ and $b$ channels will tighten fastest.
- If the couplings continue to sit on the linear, $v$-normalized line as errors shrink, the parameter space of composite and dilaton-like alternatives shrinks toward the decoupling limit, which inverts the usual logic: the Higgs mass and the coupling line would together be circumstantial evidence for a weakly coupled sector rather than a strongly coupled one.
- The invisible-width bound is derived under the assumption of no new loop contributions; relaxing that assumption, as the authors do in one variant, shifts the preferred region, so a future direct search for invisible Higgs decays would be the cleaner discriminant.
Original abstract
There are many indirect and direct experimental indications that the new particle H discovered by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations has spin zero and (mostly) positive parity, and that its couplings to other particles are correlated with their masses. Beyond any reasonable doubt, it is a Higgs boson, and here we examine the extent to which its couplings resemble those of the single Higgs boson of the Standard Model. Our global analysis of its couplings to fermions and massive bosons determines that they have the same relative sign as in the Standard Model. We also show directly that these couplings are highly consistent with a dependence on particle masses that is linear to within a few %, and scaled by the conventional electroweak symmetry-breaking scale to within 10%. We also give constraints on loop-induced couplings, on the total Higgs decay width, and on possible invisible decays of the Higgs boson under various assumptions.
The compiled record
The paper's own sentences, arranged, kept beside the review and separate from it. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.
The abstract, sentence by sentence
There are many indirect and direct experimental indications that the new particle H discovered by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations has spin zero and (mostly) positive parity, and that its couplings to other particles are correlated with their masses. Beyond any reasonable doubt, it is a Higgs boson, and here we examine the extent to which its couplings resemble those of the single Higgs boson of the Standard Model. Our global analysis of its couplings to fermions and massive bosons determines that they have the same relative sign as in the Standard Model. We also show directly that these couplings are highly consistent with a dependence on particle masses that is linear to within a few %, and scaled by the conventional electroweak symmetry-breaking scale to within 10%. We also give constraints on loop-induced couplings, on the total Higgs decay width, and on possible invisible decays of the Higgs boson under various assumptions.
background contribution method result interpretation main claim
| # | sentence | role | the authors' own work | states the main conclusion | strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| s0 | There are many indirect and direct experimental indications that the new particle H discovered by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations has spin zero and (mostly) positive parity, and that its couplings to other particles are correlated with their masses. | background 1.00 | 0.08 | 0.05 | hedged possibility 0.86 |
| s1 | Beyond any reasonable doubt, it is a Higgs boson, and here we examine the extent to which its couplings resemble those of the single Higgs boson of the Standard Model. | contribution 0.55 | 0.27 | 0.08 | asserted 1.00 |
| s2 | Our global analysis of its couplings to fermions and massive bosons determines that they have the same relative sign as in the Standard Model. | result 1.00 | 0.96 | 0.44 | asserted 1.00 |
| s3 | We also show directly that these couplings are highly consistent with a dependence on particle masses that is linear to within a few %, and scaled by the conventional electroweak symmetry-breaking scale to within 10%. | result 1.00 | 0.95 | 0.27 | asserted 0.89 |
| s4 | We also give constraints on loop-induced couplings, on the total Higgs decay width, and on possible invisible decays of the Higgs boson under various assumptions. | contribution 0.68 | 0.94 | 0.04 | asserted 0.95 |
What was examined, and what was not
- arXiv listing abstract v1
- full text
- figures and tables
- references and citing sentences
- relations to other papers
- P abstract
- S sections
- T body sentences
- C citations
- R cross-paper relations
Figures
Figures reproduced from arXiv:1303.3879 by the authors.
References
How later papers used it
101 later papers cite it
3 later papers by other authors are listed below: 2 used its data or values and 1 compared its own results with it. 1 more paper by the same authors is listed: 1 used its data or values.
Uses its data or values 3 of 24 papers with this label · 1 by the same authors
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Used the numerical values quoted in this paper, √(C_gg) = 0.88 ± 0.11 and √(C_γγ) = 1.18 ± 0.12.
Constraining minimal and non-minimal UED models with Higgs couplings (2013) · 1.00 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
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Took the LHC 8 TeV data bound of BR(H→invisible) < 0.13 at 95% CL from this paper.
Phenomenology of the Sterile Neutrinos (2016) · 0.93 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
By the same authors
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Displayed the regions of the (κ_t, κ̃_t) plane allowed at the 68 and 95% CL according to the analysis of this paper.
Disentangling Higgs-Top Couplings in Associated Production (2013) (same authors) · 0.89 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
Compares with it 1 of 4 papers with this label
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Reported that its indirect limit on the invisible width is at least a factor of two worse than those obtained in the similar fits of this paper using the latest LHC data.
The couplings of the Higgs boson and its CP properties from fits of the signal strengths and their ratios at the 7+8 TeV LHC (2013) · 0.99 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
How the literature uses it
100 arXiv papers cite this in 141 sentences
Papers citing it · 93 sentences without a confident label
Uses its method or tool 2 papers
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An additional fit is performed using a phenomenological parametrization relating the masses of the fermions and vector bosons to the corresponding $κ$ modifiers using two parameters, denoted $M$ and $ϵ$ [ref] .
Combined measurements of Higgs boson couplings in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV · Generic model within kappa-framework assuming resolved loops · 0.91
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[ref] for the effective Lagrangian,
Bounding the Higgs Boson Width Through Interferometry · Theoretical Description · 0.97
Uses its data or values 24 papers
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The Run 2 data [ref] with improved measurements of the $hbb̅$ and $htt̅$ couplings, compared to what Run 1 could achieve [ref] , penetrate rather deep into the BSM parameter space, leading to new constraints.
Probing the Higgs boson through Yukawa force · Introduction · 0.96
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We are going to use the numerical values quoted in [ref] : $√(C_gg) =0.88 ±0.11$ and $√(C_γγ) = 1.18 ±0.12.$
Constraining minimal and non-minimal UED models with Higgs couplings · Introduction · 1.00
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The non-standard decay branching ratio of the SM Higgs boson is constrained to $Γ_h →inv < 1.2 MeV$ (branching ratio about $22%$) by the results of a global fitting to the most updated data from the CMS and ATLAS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), as well as those from the Tevatron [ref] .
Dark Photon as Fractional Cosmic Neutrino Masquerader · Collider Bounds From Higgs Invisible Width · 0.91
Compares with it 4 papers
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These modifications are in a qualitative agreement with the global combination from [ref] which is based on Moriond 2013 (La Thuile, March 2013) experimental data [ref] .
Higgs boson signal at complete tree level in the SM extension by dimension-six operators · Beyond the infinitely small width approximation · 0.98
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Thus, $BR_nonSM ≤18.8%$ at 95%C.L. if $c_α1̄$ fixed as also similarly obtained by Ref. [ref] using up-to-date data.
Implications of LHC data on 125GeV Higgs-like boson for the Standard Model and its various extensions · How likely are signals universally modified? : ${ α, BR_nonSM }$ · 0.84
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With the simplifying $c_f=c_V=1$ assumption, the indirect limit on the invisible width that one obtains from the signal strengths is better, as can be seen from the figure; at $1σ$, it reads as μ_inv = Γ_H^inv/ Γ_H^SM ≤0.52 @68%CL This limit is at least a factor of two worse than those obtained in the similar fits of Refs. [ref] using the latest LHC data, the reason being that, here, we assume a 20% theoretical uncertainty on the Higgs production cross sections that we treat as a bias and do not combine quadratically with the experimental uncertainty.
The couplings of the Higgs boson and its CP properties from fits of the signal strengths and their ratios at the 7+8 TeV LHC · 5. The invisible Higgs decay width · 0.99
Cites it as background 13 papers
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Soon after the discovery of the 125 GeV Higgs boson, several analyses have been performed, for example, in the context of MSSM [ref] , general 2-Higgs doublet models [ref] , next-to minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) [ref] , effective theory framework [ref] .
Status of MSSM Higgs Sector using Global Analysis and Direct Search Bounds, and Future Prospects at the HL-LHC · Introduction · 0.96
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The Higgs couplings can be parametrized in terms of effective Lagrangians [ref] whose structure depends, however, on the class of models considered, such as extended Higgs sectors, extra fermions and/or scalars contributing to loop diagrams, composite Higgs bosons and/or fermions, nonlinear realizations of electroweak symmetry breaking, large extra dimensions, Higgs–dilaton mixing and more.
Global fit to Higgs signal strengths and couplings and implications for extended Higgs sectors · Introduction · 0.95
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Indirect searches may well give fruitful results prior to the discovery of new resonances, and may allow to explore and disentangle the two possible avenues of realisation of electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB): linear [ref] –which is typical of BSM theories in which the Higgs particle is elementary– or non-linear [ref] –as for instance in models in which the Higgs boson is a composite pseudo-goldstone boson of some strong-interacting BSM theory or a dilaton.
CP violation with a dynamical Higgs · Introduction · 0.97
What it cites · 11 sentences without a confident label
Uses data or values from 1 paper
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The same information can be found for ATLAS at 7 TeV in [ref] and at 8 TeV in [ref] , broken down into eleven subchannels including two VBF-dominated ones.
Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC · Summary of the Data · 0.96
Cites as background 5 papers
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We now discuss the total Higgs decay rate in the two classes of global fit discussed above, assuming that the Higgs has no other decays beyond those in the Standard Model [ref] .
Total Width of 125 GeV Higgs Boson · The Total Higgs Decay Rate · 0.81
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There have been many analyses of the $H$ couplings [ref] , some also including the Moriond 2013 data [ref] .
Interpreting LHC Higgs Results from Natural New Physics Perspective · Introduction and Summary · 0.99
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There have been many analyses of the $H$ couplings [ref] , some also including the Moriond 2013 data [ref] .
Global Analysis of the Higgs Candidate with Mass ~ 125 GeV · Introduction and Summary · 0.99
Discussion
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