Jets and photons spectroscopy of Higgs-ALP interactions

Abstract

Abstract Axion-like particles (ALPs) and Higgs bosons can interact in scalar sectors beyond the Standard Model, leading the Higgs boson to decay into pairs of gluons and photons through the ALP interaction and giving rise to resonances in the decay products of the process h → aa → gg + γγ, resembling a spectral-line analysis. We explore this signature to constrain an ALP effective field theory formulation. Our analyses show that the forthcoming runs of the LHC will be capable of probing the ALP-Higgs interaction in the ALP mass range from 0.5 to 60 GeV using an automatized search strategy that adapts to different ALP masses in inclusive jets plus photons final states. Such interaction can also be tested in mass regions where the two and four-photon search channels are currently ineffective.