Decay of the Higgs boson to ${\tau }^{-}{\tau }^{+}$ and non-Hermiticity of the Yukawa interaction

Abstract

The issue of Hermiticity of the Higgs boson interaction with fermions is addressed. A model for non-Hermitian Yukawa interaction is proposed and approximation of one fermion generation is considered. Symmetry properties of the corresponding $hf\bar{f}$ Lagrangian with respect to the discrete P, C and T transformations are analyzed, and the modified Dirac equation for the free fermion is studied. Longitudinal polarization of the fermions in the decay $h\to f\bar{f}$, which arises due to non-Hermiticity of the $hf\bar{f}$ interaction, is discussed. It is suggested to study effects of this non-Hermiticity in the decay $h\to {\tau }^{-}{\tau }^{+}\to {\mu }^{-}{\bar{\nu }}_{\mu }{\nu }_{\tau }{\mu }^{+}{\nu }_{\mu }{\bar{\nu }}_{\tau }$, for which observables (asymmetries) are constructed which take nonzero values for a non-Hermitian $h{\tau }^{-}{\tau }^{+}$ interaction. These asymmetries are analyzed for various configurations of the muon energies.

Comments: 10 pages, 2 figures, revtex4; v2: one reference added, comparison with results of other papers included, insignificant changes in tables, corresponds to journal version; v3: minor typos corrected