Higgs Boson Decay Insights: Two-loop QCD Corrections to Vector Quarkonium Production

Recent research by Yu Jia, Zhewen Mo, and Jia-Yue Zhang explores the two-loop QCD corrections to the Higgs boson radiative decay into vector quarkonium, specifically focusing on the production of $J/\psi$ and $\Upsilon$ states. This study, titled "Two-loop QCD corrections to Higgs radiative decay to vector quarkonium," was submitted to arXiv on August 30, 2024, and can be accessed here.

The authors utilized an optimized nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) approach to calculate the corrections involved in the decay process. They computed the ${\cal O}(\alpha_s^2)$ correction in the direct channel, where the Higgs boson couples directly to the charm quark pair ($c\bar{c}$), as well as the ${\cal O}(\alpha_s)$ correction in the indirect channel, which involves the Higgs decaying into virtual photons that subsequently fragment into $J/\psi$.

One of the significant outcomes of this research is the prediction of the branching ratios for the Higgs boson decaying into these vector quarkonium states. The authors present the most accurate predictions to date, estimating the branching ratio for $H \rightarrow J/\psi + \gamma$ to be approximately $3.27_{-0.07}^{+0.30}{}^{+0.06}{-0.06}{}{-0.13}^{+0.13} \times 10^{-6}$, and for $H \rightarrow \Upsilon + \gamma$ to be around $1.34_{-0.31}^{+0.75}{}^{+0.25}{-0.20}{}^{+0.05}{-0.05} \times 10^{-8}$.

These findings are crucial for understanding the charm quark Yukawa coupling, which is an essential parameter in the Standard Model of particle physics. By providing a clean channel for extracting this coupling, the research may enhance the precision of measurements related to the Higgs boson and its interactions, thereby contributing to the broader field of high-energy physics.