New Observables for CP Violation in Higgs Decays

Abstract

Current experimental data on the 125 GeV Higgs boson still allow room for large CP violation. The observables usually considered in this context are triple product asymmetries, which require an input of four visible particles after imposing momentum conservation. We point out a new class of CP violating observables in Higgs physics which require only three reconstructed momenta. They may arise if the process involves an interference of amplitudes with different intermediate particles, which provide distinct strong phases in the form of the Breit-Wigner widths, in addition to possible weak phases that arise from CP violating couplings of the Higgs in the Lagrangian. As an example, we propose a forward-backward asymmetry of the charged lepton in the three-body Higgs decay, $h\to \ell^-\ell^+ \gamma$, as a probe for CP-violating Higgs couplings to $Z\gamma$ and $\gamma\gamma$ pairs. Other processes exhibiting this type of CP-violation are also discussed.