Using the Higgs boson to probe the littlest Higgs model with T parity through Z(H)W(H) production at the LHC

Abstract

In the littlest Higgs model with T-parity, the production cross section of the T-odd heavy gauge boson pair Z(H)W(H) is sizable at the LHC. In addition, both the Z(H) and W-H bosons have almost exclusively one decay channel into HA(H) and WA(H), respectively, where the dark matter candidate A(H) yields a large missing transverse energy signal. Upon the discovery of the Higgs boson at 125 GeV, we study the discovery sensitivity of the final state pp -> lb (b) over bar + (sic)(T) to probe the model at the LHC. We find that the standard model backgrounds are manageable by applying suitable kinematic cuts. The LHC running at root s = 14 TeV with a 100 fb(-1) total luminosity is sensitive to the model with the signal significance above 5 if the symmetry breaking scale f is below about 850 GeV.