Highly boosted Higgs bosons and unitarity in vector-boson fusion at future hadron colliders

Abstract

Abstract We study the observability of new interactions which modify Higgs-pair production via vector-boson fusion processes at the LHC and at future proton-proton colliders. In an effective-Lagrangian approach, we explore in particular the effect of the operator $$ {h}^2{W}_{\mu \nu}^a{W}^{a,\mu \nu} $$ h 2 W μν a W a , μν , which describes the interaction of the Higgs boson with transverse vector-boson polarization modes. By tagging highly boosted Higgs bosons in the final state, we determine projected bounds for the coefficient of this operator at the LHC and at a future 27 TeV or 100 TeV collider. Taking into account unitarity constraints, we estimate the new-physics discovery potential of Higgs pair production in this channel.