Measuring Di-Higgs Physics via the $t \bar t hh \to t \bar t b \bar bb\bar b$ Channel

Abstract

The measurement of di-Higgs physics can provide crucial information on electroweak phase transition in the early Universe and significant clues on new physics coupling with the Higgs field directly. This measurement has been suggested to be pursued mainly via the $pp \to hh$ production. In this letter, we propose a new strategy to do that, i.e., via the $pp \to t \bar t hh $ production. Because of its positive correlation with the rescaled tri-Higgs coupling $\frac{\lambda}{\lambda_{\rm SM}}$ (in comparison to a negative one for the $pp \to hh$ production) in the neighborhood of $\frac{\lambda}{\lambda_{\rm SM}} \sim 1$, the $pp \to t\bar t hh$ production complements the $pp \to hh$ one in measuring di-Higgs physics, particularly for $\frac{\lambda}{\lambda_{\rm SM}}>1$, at both the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) and a next-generation $pp$-collider. As an illustration, we work on the process $pp\to t\bar thh \to t\bar t b\bar b b\bar b$. We show that a statistical significance of $> 2.0 \sigma$ at the HL-LHC, comparable to that of the $pp \to hh \to b\bar b \gamma\gamma$ channel, and a statistical significance of $\sim 5 \sigma$ at a 100 TeV $pp$-collider, with 3000 fb$^{-1}$ of data, are achievable in searching for the di-Higgs production with $\frac{\lambda}{\lambda_{\rm SM}} = 1$.