Higher-order QCD corrections to H → b b ¯ $$ \overline{b} $$ from rational approximants

Abstract We use rational approximants to study missing higher orders in the massless scalar-current quark correlator. We predict the yet unknown six-loop coefficient of its imaginary part, related to Γ(H → b b ¯ $$ \overline{b} $$ ), to be c 5 = −6900 ± 1400. With this result, the perturbative series becomes almost insensitive to renormalization scale variations and the intrinsic QCD truncation uncertainty is tiny. This confirms the expectation that higher-order loop computations for this quantity will not be required in the foreseeable future, as the uncertainty in Γ(H → b b ¯ $$ \overline{b} $$ ) will remain largely dominated by the Standard Model parameters.