Measuring Higgs boson self-couplings with 2 → 3 VBS processes

Abstract We study the measurement of Higgs boson self-couplings through 2 → 3 vector boson scattering (VBS) processes in the framework of Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT) at both proton and lepton colliders. The SMEFT contribution to the amplitude of the 2 → 3 VBS processes, taking W L W L → W L W L h and W L W L → hhh as examples, exhibits enhancement with the energy A BSM A SM ~ E 2 Λ 2 $$ \frac{{\mathcal{A}}^{\mathrm{BSM}}}{{\mathcal{A}}^{\mathrm{SM}}}\sim \frac{E^2}{\Lambda^2} $$ , which indicates the sensitivity of these processes to the related dimension-six operators in SMEFT. Simulation of the full processes at both hadron and lepton colliders with a variety of collision energies are performed to estimate the allowed region on c 6 and c Φ 1 $$ {c}_{\Phi_1} $$ . Especially we find that, with the help of exclusively choosing longitudinal polarizations in the final states and suitable p T cuts, WWh process is as important as the more widely studied triple Higgs production (hhh) in the measurement of Higgs self-couplings. Our analysis indicates that these processes can play important roles in the measurement of Higgs self-couplings at future 100 TeV pp colliders and muon colliders. However, their cross sections are generally tiny at low energy machines, which makes them much more challenging to explore.