Project

Unlocking the charm-Higgs coupling at the LHC

Code
01IB6123
Duration
01 January 2023 → 31 December 2026
Funding
Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund
Promotor-spokesperson
Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • Experimental particle physics
    • High energy physics
    • Phenomenological particle physics
Keywords
LHC Higgs charm-tagging Yukawa coupling
 
Project description

Our celebrated discovery of the Higgs boson by the LHC experiments at CERN in 2012 completed the collection of elementary particles that build up matter around us. To confirm its central place in our understanding of particle physics, the interaction strength (or coupling) of the Higgs boson to all three families of quarks and leptons must be measured and compared to theoretical predictions. Using the proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, we have successfully contributed to the milestone measurements of
this coupling to the heaviest family of quarks, i.e. the top and bottom quarks. The next step is to unlock the charm quark-Higgs coupling that was previously anticipated not to be within reach of the LHC experiments. We propose a coherent and innovative experimental programme at the LHC to enable a first glimpse of this coupling with the potential to result in a legacy measurement.