The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 has confirmed the Standard Model (SM) as an extremely successful theory of elementary particles and their interactions via three of the four fundamental forces. Still, the SM fails to account for key aspects of our universe, such as dark matter and the matter-antimatter asymmetry. Moreover, it is unable to provide an explanation for its numerous free parameters and their hierarchical pattern, characterised by a gigantic and unnatural gap between the Higgs boson mass and the scale of quantum gravity.
Most theoretical attempts to solve these puzzles invoke the existence of physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM), and in the plethora of BSM models that have been put forward the Higgs boson and the top quark typically play a central role. This renders direct tests of top-Higgs interactions one of the most promising tools to challenge the SM and to find possible evidence for BSM physics.
The workshop will bring together experts from the theoretical and experimental communities for a joint brainstorming on the status of this research, identify areas for improvements, as well as set new promising directions to be confronted with LHC data in Run 2 and beyond.
The topics that will be covered include:
- Searches for ttH and tqH production at the LHC
- CP-violating top-Higgs interactions
- Flavor-violating top-Higgs interactions
- Effective Field Theory for top-Higgs interactions
- Improvements to signal and background modeling at the LHC
- Application of advanced experimental tools (e.g. flavor tagging, jet substructure, jet charge, color flow, matrix-element method, etc)
- Indirect constraints on top-Higgs interactions (e.g. from EDMs)
- Implications for BSM physics
The workshop will take place at the Centro de Ciencias de Benasque Pedro Pascual (http://benasque.org/) located in Benasque (Spain), between May 27 and June 2, 2018. Benasque is a beautiful village with a famous ski resort, located in the heart of the Pyrenees, close to the Spanish border with France. In addition to the auditorium, the Center offers desk space, ubiquitous black boards and several meeting areas. To ensure a productive workshop, attendance will be limited to a maximum of 50 participants. In addition, the meeting agenda will be kept light, leaving plenty of time for informal discussion among participants.
