Higgs production in association with a dark-Z at future electron positron colliders

Abstract

In recent years there have been many proposals for new electron-positron colliders, such as the Circular Electron-Positron Collider, the International Linear Collider, and the Future Circular Collider in electron-positron mode. Much of the motivation for these colliders is precision measurements of the Higgs boson and searches for new electroweak states. Hence, many of these studies are focused on energies above the h Z threshold. However, there are proposals to run these colliders at the lower WW threshold and Z-pole energies. In this paper, we study a new search for Higgs physics accessible at lower energies: e+e− → h Zd, where Zdis a new light gauge boson such as a dark photon or dark-Z. Such searches can be conducted at the WW threshold, i.e. energies below the h Z threshold where exotic Higgs decays can be searched for in earnest. Additionally, due to very good angular and energy resolution at future electron-positron colliders, these searches will be sensitive to Zd masses below 1 GeV, which is lower than the current direct LHC searches. We will show that at √s = 160 GeV with 10 ab−1, a search for e+e− → h Zd is sensitive to h −Z −Zd couplings of δ ∼ 9 × 10−3and cross sections of ∼ 2 − 3 ab for Zd masses below 1 GeV. The results are similar at √s = 240 GeV with 5 ab−1.

The Future Circular Collider: a Summary for the US 2021 Snowmass Process

“…The sensitivity to small values extends down to ∼ 2 × 10 −4 in the m A range between 10 and 80 GeV [111]. Other possible avenues to search for a dark photon or dark Z' boson have been investigated using e + e − → A'H or Z'H at √ s = 160 and 240 GeV [112].…”