Probing the Rare Four-Bottom Higgs Decay H→ bb̅ bb̅ at the HL-LHC and ILC
Abstract
We propose the rare SM Higgs decay H→ bb̅ bb̅ as a probe of the structure of Higgs interactions with bottom quarks and gauge bosons, and as a baseline for searches for new physics producing four-bottom final states in Higgs decays. We compute the leading contributions to this decay, including the dominant H→ bb̅ g→ bb̅ bb̅ topology, the sizeable H→ ZZ∗→ bb̅ bb̅ channel, and the loop-induced H→ gg→ bb̅ bb̅ contribution. We find a branching ratio of order 1.6×10−3 and show that destructive interference among the leading amplitudes is phenomenologically relevant. We demonstrate that this decay can be probed in associated Higgs production at both the HL-LHC and the ILC. For pp→ WH→ Wbb̅ bb̅ at √s=14 TeV, we use a multivariate analysis based on boosted decision trees to exploit correlations among the four-b kinematic observables. At 3000 fb−1, the statistical significance reaches about $3.5$, while a tighter high-purity working point gives S/B≃5% with significance close to 3σ. A combined high-luminosity LHC dataset could therefore make this rare decay observable. For e+e-→ ZH→ Zbb̅ bb̅ at the ILC with √s=250 GeV, we demonstrate that the cleaner collider environment gives a high-purity signal sample. In the nominal setup, the multivariate analysis gives a significance above 5σ already at 300 fb−1. At integrated luminosities of order 1−3 ab−1, the branching ratio can be measured with several-percent precision.
Related
- Probing Charged Higgs Bosons through H± → W± A Decay in the Type-I Two-Higgs Doublet Model
- Measurements of the Higgs boson production, fiducial and differential cross-sections in the four lepton decay channel using 164 fb−1 of data collected at √s = 13.6 TeV with the ATLAS detector
- Search for the rare Higgs boson decay H → Zγ in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 and 13.6 TeV
- Parton-shower and fixed-order QCD effects in Higgs boson production in weak-boson fusion and its decays to bottom quarks
- Search for nonresonant triple Higgs boson production in the final state with six bottom quarks in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV
BibTeX
@misc{boos2026probing,
title = {{Probing the Rare Four-Bottom Higgs Decay $H\to b\bar b b\bar b$ at the HL-LHC and ILC}},
author = {Eduard Boos and Vyacheslav Bunichev and Guliya Nurbakova and Saniya Rustembayeva},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.19935},
eprint = {2605.19935},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.19935},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Probing the Rare Four-Bottom Higgs Decay H→ bb̅ bb̅ at the HL-LHC and ILC
AU - Eduard Boos
AU - Vyacheslav Bunichev
AU - Guliya Nurbakova
AU - Saniya Rustembayeva
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.19935
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.19935
AB - We propose the rare SM Higgs decay H→ bb̅ bb̅ as a probe of the structure of Higgs interactions with bottom quarks and gauge bosons, and as a baseline for searches for new physics producing four-bottom final states in Higgs decays. We compute the leading contributions to this decay, including the dominant H→ bb̅ g→ bb̅ bb̅ topology, the sizeable H→ ZZ^∗→ bb̅ bb̅ channel, and the loop-induced H→ gg→ bb̅ bb̅ contribution. We find a branching ratio of order 1.6×10^−3 and show that destructive interference among the leading amplitudes is phenomenologically relevant. We demonstrate that this decay can be probed in associated Higgs production at both the HL-LHC and the ILC. For pp→ WH→ Wbb̅ bb̅ at √s=14 TeV, we use a multivariate analysis based on boosted decision trees to exploit correlations among the four-b kinematic observables. At 3000 fb^−1, the statistical significance reaches about $3.5$, while a tighter high-purity working point gives S/B≃5% with significance close to 3σ. A combined high-luminosity LHC dataset could therefore make this rare decay observable. For e^+e^-→ ZH→ Zbb̅ bb̅ at the ILC with √s=250 GeV, we demonstrate that the cleaner collider environment gives a high-purity signal sample. In the nominal setup, the multivariate analysis gives a significance above 5σ already at 300 fb^−1. At integrated luminosities of order 1−3 ab^−1, the branching ratio can be measured with several-percent precision.
ER -