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Exclusive Higgs Boson Production with bottom quarks at Hadron Colliders

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S. Dawson (BNL), C.B. Jackson (FSU), L. Reina (FSU), D. Wackeroth (SUNY, Buffalo)

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology · Submitted 5 Nov 2003 · 59 references

Pith's verdict: A careful, honest NLO calculation of exclusive b bbar h; the only real soft spot is that the 15-20% scheme spread is a proxy for missing NNLO, not a bound, and the authors mostly say so themselves.

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arXiv IDhep-ph/0311067 (version 1)
Pith IDKDXX23UQ, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review
CitationBuffalo), C.B. Jackson (FSU), D. Wackeroth (SUNY, L. Reina (FSU), S. Dawson (BNL). "Exclusive Higgs Boson Production with bottom quarks at Hadron Colliders." arXiv:hep-ph/0311067 (2003). https://pith.science/paper/KDXX23UQ
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The paper

The paper claims

Two-bottom-tag Higgs production gets a stabilized QCD prediction, with a quantified scheme ambiguity.

The reading

The paper computes the next-to-leading-order QCD rate for producing a Higgs boson together with a high-$p_T$ bottom and anti-bottom quark at the Tevatron and the LHC, in both the Standard Model and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, with experimental-style cuts on the bottom transverse momentum and pseudorapidity. The point is not that the rate is large in the Standard Model — it is small — but that the theoretical prediction becomes usable once the order-$alpha_s$ corrections are included: the leftover dependence on the unphysical renormalization and factorization scales drops from the wild spread of the leading-order result to a plateau where the cross section varies by at most 15 to 20 percent. A second, less comfortable finding is that the answer depends on how the bottom quark Yukawa coupling is renormalized: using the on-shell mass versus a running $overline{mathrm{MS}}$ mass shifts the NLO rate by a comparable 15 to 20 percent, and the two schemes have distinct regions of least scale sensitivity. The authors propose taking that spread, at the respective plateaus, as an upper bound on the uncomputed higher-order uncertainty. The physics payoff is that in the MSSM at large $tanbeta$ the same exclusive rate can be enhanced by up to three orders of magnitude, which is what makes a two-bottom-tagged Higgs a plausible discovery channel rather than a curiosity.

What carries the argument

The load-bearing device is the split of the parton-level NLO cross section into a lowest-order piece, an order-$alpha_s$ piece, and a term isolating the difference between the on-shell and $overline{mathrm{MS}}$ bottom mass counterterms, written as $hatsigma^{mathrm{NLO,OS}}$ and $hatsigma^{mathrm{NLO,MS}}$ in Eqs. (17) and (18). Because the bottom Yukawa counterterm coincides with the bottom mass counterterm at one loop in QCD (the vacuum expectation value is not renormalized), the entire scheme ambiguity can be traced to a single quantity $delta_{CT}(mu) = C_F[3 ln(mu^2/m_b^2) + 4]$, and the difference between the two schemes reduces to a term proportional to $m_b^2 - m_b(mu)^2$ times the NLO coefficient functions. That identity is what lets the authors both prove the two schemes agree at $O(alpha_s^3)$ and explain why they nevertheless differ numerically at the order they are working: the coefficient $g^{ij}_{mathrm{NLO}}$ carries a $ln(mu^2/s)$ piece fixed by the Altarelli-Parisi splitting functions and the QCD $\beta$ function, so the formally higher-order difference inherits a nontrivial scale dependence rather than being a small constant.

Extended reading notes

Core claim

The central claim is that the fully exclusive process $pp, pbar p to b bar b h$, with both final-state bottom quarks required to have $p_T > 20$ GeV and pseudorapidity inside $|eta| < 2$ (Tevatron) or $|eta| < 2.5$ (LHC), is under theoretical control at next-to-leading order in QCD. The authors compute the $O(alpha_s^3)$ parton-level cross sections for $gg, q bar q to b bar b h$ plus the $O(alpha_s^3)$ real-emission channels $(q, bar q) g to b bar b h (q, bar q)$, with the virtual corrections including both top and bottom quark loops where the Higgs couples to a closed fermion line. They report that the NLO cross section is far flatter in the scale $mu = mu_r = mu_f$ than the LO one, varying by at most 15 to 20 percent across the plateau regions, and that the NLO distributions in $p_T$ and $eta$ of the bottom quarks and of the Higgs are more sharply peaked at low $p_T$ and central $eta$ than at LO. They further report that the choice between on-shell and $overline{mathrm{MS}}$ renormalization of the bottom Yukawa coupling changes the NLO rate by a numerically significant, scale-dependent amount, and argue that this difference is formally of higher order but practically should be counted as part of the theory error. Finally, they show that in the MSSM with $tanbeta = 10, 20, 40$ the $b bar b h^0$ and $b bar b H^0$ rates can exceed the Standard Model rate by up to roughly three orders of magnitude, with the enhancement suppressed near the kinematic corners where the mixing angle $alpha$ becomes small.

Load-bearing premise

The paper assumes that the gap between the on-shell and $overline{mathrm{MS}}$ NLO cross sections, evaluated at their respective points of least scale sensitivity, is a safe upper bound on the size of the uncomputed next-order corrections.

Editorial extensions

If this is right

  • The exclusive $b bar b h$ channel becomes a usable prediction for two-bottom-tag searches at both the Tevatron and the LHC, with a residual scale uncertainty of order 15 to 20 percent rather than the much larger leading-order spread.
  • In the MSSM at large $tanbeta$, a two-bottom-tagged Higgs can be a discovery mode, since the rate can be enhanced by up to three orders of magnitude over the Standard Model for the light or heavy neutral scalar.
  • Because the final state contains two high-$p_T$ bottom quarks, the measured rate is proportional to the bottom quark Yukawa coupling without contamination from other production channels, so a signal would constrain that coupling directly.
  • The quoted theory error budget for this channel should include both the residual scale variation and the on-shell versus $overline{mathrm{MS}}$ scheme spread, each at the 15 to 20 percent level.
  • Lowering the $p_T$ cut from 25 to 10 GeV raises the rate by roughly a factor of four while making the calculation progressively less stable, which sets a practical floor on how soft the bottom tags can be.

Reading between the lines

Editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • The paper's error-budgeting move — reading the on-shell/$overline{mathrm{MS}}$ spread as a stand-in for the missing next order — is testable in principle: a future next-to-next-to-leading-order calculation of the same exclusive rate would either land inside that 15 to 20 percent window or reveal it as an underestimate.
  • Since the scheme spread is driven by the $ln(mu^2/m_b^2)$ terms in the mass counterterm, a resummation of those logarithms in the hadronic (as opposed to the $e^+e^-$ or decay) setting is the natural next step, and the paper's own remark that the running is not the whole story suggests such a resummation would not close the gap on its own.
  • The observation that the on-shell and $overline{mathrm{MS}}$ plateaus sit at different scales implies that any experimental extraction of the bottom Yukawa coupling from this channel must state which scheme and scale it assumes, or the extracted coupling will carry an ambiguity of the same order as the measurement it is meant to constrain.
  • The tabulated enhancement pattern — large at moderate $tanbeta$, suppressed where the mixing angle $alpha$ shrinks — suggests the two-bottom-tag channel is most useful as a discovery mode in a specific wedge of MSSM parameter space rather than uniformly across large $tanbeta$.
Original abstract

We present the next-to-leading order QCD corrected rate for the production of a scalar Higgs boson with a pair of high p_T bottom and anti-bottom quarks at the Tevatron and at the Large Hadron Collider. Results are given for both the Standard Model and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. The exclusive b-bbar-h production rate is small in the Standard Model, but it can be greatly enhanced in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model for large tan(beta), making b-bbar-h an important discovery mode. We find that the next-to-leading order QCD results are much less sensitive to the renormalization and factorization scales than the lowest order results, but have a significant dependence on the choice of the renormalization scheme for the bottom quark Yukawa coupling.

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.

Compiled by classifier-1.13-20260917 via OpenRouter, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 3,741 input tokens, $0.0002 reported.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.04 · states limitation 0.89 · human participants 0.01 · controlled comparison 0.14 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.11 · compares with prior results 0.83 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

The abstract, sentence by sentence

arXiv listing abstract v1. Results and the main claim are underlined; .

We present the next-to-leading order QCD corrected rate for the production of a scalar Higgs boson with a pair of high p_T bottom and anti-bottom quarks at the Tevatron and at the Large Hadron Collider. Results are given for both the Standard Model and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. The exclusive b-bbar-h production rate is small in the Standard Model, but it can be greatly enhanced in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model for large tan(beta), making b-bbar-h an important discovery mode. We find that the next-to-leading order QCD results are much less sensitive to the renormalization and factorization scales than the lowest order results, but have a significant dependence on the choice of the renormalization scheme for the bottom quark Yukawa coupling.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#sentencerolethe authors' own workstates the main conclusionstrength
s0 We present the next-to-leading order QCD corrected rate for the production of a scalar Higgs boson with a pair of high p_T bottom and anti-bottom quarks at the Tevatron and at the Large Hadron Collider. contribution 1.00 0.93 0.10 asserted 0.99
s1 Results are given for both the Standard Model and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. contribution 0.80 0.68 0.04 asserted 0.97
s2 The exclusive b-bbar-h production rate is small in the Standard Model, but it can be greatly enhanced in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model for large tan(beta), making b-bbar-h an important discovery mode. interpretation 0.69 0.63 0.78 asserted 0.88
s3 We find that the next-to-leading order QCD results are much less sensitive to the renormalization and factorization scales than the lowest order results, but have a significant dependence on the choice of the renormalization scheme for the bottom quark Yukawa coupling. result 0.98 0.96 0.14 asserted 1.00

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: theoretical result 0.99 · evidence from simulation or computation 0.77.

What was examined, and what was not

sources read
  • arXiv listing abstract v1
not examined
  • full text
  • figures and tables
  • references and citing sentences
  • relations to other papers
levels run
  • P abstract
not run
  • S sections
  • T body sentences
  • C citations
  • R cross-paper relations

Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

Figures
Figure 1. FIG. 1: Sample of diagrams corresponding to
Figure 3. FIG. 3: The absolute value of the percentage difference ∆(%)= (
Figure 5. FIG. 5: Transverse momentum distributions at LO and NLO of th
Figure 6. FIG. 6: Transverse momentum distributions at LO and NLO of th
Figure 7. FIG. 7: Pseudorapidity distributions at LO and NLO of the bot
Figure 8. FIG. 8: Pseudorapidity distributions at LO and NLO of the SM H

Showing 6 of the paper's 9 figures. See all figures in the PDF ↗ Figures reproduced from arXiv:hep-ph/0311067 by the authors.

References
How the literature uses it

69 arXiv papers cite this in 79 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers whose main result relates to this one's

Found among the papers closest to this one by title and main claim. Pith's classifier compared each pair's main results and a second model family confirmed the relation; checked against two further families, shown conflicts agreed 118 times in 120 and shown same results 218 times in 239. The quoted sentence is the other paper's main claim.

States the same result 1 paper
  • However, Higgs bosons with enhanced couplings to b quarks, such as occur in supersymmetric models for large values of tan beta, will be copiously produced at both the Tevatron and the LHC in association with b quarks, which will be an important discovery channel.

    Higgs Boson Production in Association with Bottom Quarks · 0.86

Papers citing it · 42 sentences without a confident label

Uses its method or tool 18 papers
Uses its data or values 4 papers
Cites it as background 14 papers

Discussion

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