An extended scalar sector to address the tension between a fourth generation and Higgs searches at the LHC

Abstract

It is expected that the LHC will soon discover the Higgs boson, or that failure to find it will severely constrain its production cross-section over a large mass range. Either one of these results spells trouble for a fourth generation that significantly enhances the Higgs production cross-section at LHC. In fact the LHC has already ruled out a SM Higgs mass in the range of 120 GeV to 600 GeV with a fourth generation at the 95% C.L. In this paper we explore options within extended scalar sectors to maintain the viability of a heavy fourth generation if an enhanced (relative to the Standard Model) Higgs production cross-section is not observed.

Comments: Latex 7 pages. Version to appear in Phys. Lett. B