Advancements in Higgs Boson Interaction Studies: Insights from the ATLAS Collaboration

The Higgs boson has emerged as a central figure in the field of particle physics, particularly due to its role in providing mass to elementary particles through the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking. The ATLAS experiment, located at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), plays a pivotal role in unveiling the intricacies of Higgs boson interactions with fundamental particles, including fermions and bosons. A primary focus of the ATLAS collaboration is to refine the precision of these measurements, which can reveal the underlying principles of mass generation in the universe.

At the recently held International Conference on High-Energy Physics (ICHEP) 2024, significant advancements were showcased by the ATLAS collaboration. They reported refined measurements of the Higgs boson’s interactions with the heaviest quarks—top, bottom, and charm. These results stem from a meticulous reanalysis of data collected during LHC Run 2, specifically from 2015 to 2018. Enhanced analysis methodologies, particularly in jet tagging, were key to improving sensitivity in these measurements.

The production and decay of the Higgs boson can often culminate in complex events characterized by the creation of jets. When the Higgs boson decays into quark pairs, the resulting quarks fragment into jets, which are sprays of particles that are primarily hadrons. The identification and classification of these jets rely on jet tagging techniques that discern which type of quark generated a particular jet. This information is crucial for accurately interpreting the outcome of Higgs boson events.

The Significance of Jet Tagging

The incorporation of bespoke jet tagging techniques has enabled researchers to significantly heighten the precision of their analyses, allowing for clearer distinctions between different quark flavors. For instance, with the novel tagging strategies targeting charm and bottom quarks, the sensitivity to specific decay channels, such as H → bb (Higgs decaying into bottom quarks) and H → cc (Higgs decaying into charm quarks), increased notably—by 15% and threefold, respectively. This enhanced sensitivity is instrumental in reinforcing the experimental findings and ensuring they align with established theoretical predictions outlined in the Standard Model.

The advances culminated in promising results, including the inaugural observation of the Higgs boson’s decay channel WH, H → bb. This milestone was achieved with a significance of 5.3 sigma, complemented by a 4.9 sigma significance measurement for the ZH, H → bb process. The latter involves the Higgs boson’s decay into bottom quarks following its association with a Z boson. However, the decay into charm quarks remains a significant challenge, with the analysis revealing an upper limit that is still considerably more than the Standard Model prediction.

A particular focus of the research was the Higgs boson’s interactions involving the top quark. The process under scrutiny—where the Higgs is produced alongside two top quarks and decays into bottom quarks—poses substantial difficulties due to its complicated final state and substantial background noise from other processes. Nevertheless, enhanced analytical techniques enabled the collaboration to bolster sensitivity by a factor of two, producing an estimated signal strength of 0.81 ± 0.21 relative to the Standard Model’s prediction.

As the ATLAS collaboration looks to the future, the ongoing Run 3 of the LHC promises additional data and refined analyses that might push the boundaries of Higgs boson interaction measurements even further. With the high luminosity set to be achieved in future operational phases, particularly in the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), the potential for detecting rare decays such as H → cc will transition from improbable to feasible.

In sum, the ATLAS collaboration’s ongoing commitment to enhancing measurement precision not only advances the understanding of the Higgs boson’s role in particle physics but also strengthens the foundational knowledge of the universe’s dimensionality and mass generation mechanisms. As new methodologies are developed and further data is collected, the physics community stands on the brink of groundbreaking revelations in the study of fundamental particles.