CMS-PAS-HIG-23-010

CMS-PAS-HIG-23-010
Search for Higgs boson production in association with a charm quark in the diphoton decay channel
CMS Collaboration
23 July 2024

Abstract: This note presents the first search for the associated production of a Higgs boson with a charm quark (cH), focusing on the diphoton decay channel of the Higgs boson. This process provides a unique opportunity to probe the Higgs boson-charm quark coupling. The analysis results are based on the full Run 2 data set of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb $^{-1}$ . Assuming the Standard Model (SM) cross sections times branching ratios for the non-cH processes, the observed (expected) upper limit at 95% confidence level on the cH signal strength is 243 (355) times the SM prediction. In the same assumption, the observed (expected) allowed interval on $\kappa_{\mathrm{c}}$ , the Higgs boson-charm quark coupling modifier, is $\|\kappa_{\mathrm{c}}\| <$ 38.1 ( $\|\kappa_{\mathrm{c}}\| <$ 72.5) at 95% confidence level.
Links: CDS record (PDF) ; Physics Briefing ; CADI line (restricted) ; These preliminary results are superseded in this paper, Submitted to JHEP. The superseded preliminary plots can be found here.

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