Exotic Higgs boson decay modes as a harbinger of $S_3$ flavor symmetry

Abstract

Discrete symmetries employed to explain flavor mixing and mass hierarchies can be associated with an enlarged scalar sector which might lead to exotic Higgs decay modes. In this paper, we explore such a possibility in a scenario with $S_3$ flavor symmetry which requires three scalar SU(2) doublets. The spectrum is fixed by minimizing the scalar potential, and we observe that the symmetry of the model leads to tantalizing Higgs decay modes potentially observable at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC).