CMS logoCMS event Hgg
Compact Muon Solenoid
LHC, CERN

CMS-HIG-20-009 ; CERN-EP-2021-061
Search for lepton-flavor violating decays of the Higgs boson in the $\mu\tau $ and e$\tau $ final states in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV
Phys. Rev. D 104 (2021) 032013
Abstract: A search is presented for lepton-flavor violating decays of the Higgs boson to $\mu\tau$ and e$\tau $. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ collected at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant excess has been found, and the results are interpreted in terms of upper limits on lepton-flavor violating branching fractions of the Higgs boson. The observed (expected) upper limits on the branching fractions are, respectively, ${\mathcal{B}(\mathrm{H}\to\mu\tau)} < $ 0.15 (0.15)% and ${\mathcal{B}(\mathrm{H}\to\mathrm{e}\tau)} < $ 0.22 (0.16)% at 95% confidence level.
Figures & Tables Summary References CMS Publications
Figures

png pdf
Figure 1:
Collinear mass distributions for the data and background processes. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% and $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% are assumed for the two signal processes. The channels are ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ (upper row left), ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ (upper row right), ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ (lower row left), and ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau _{\mu}}$ (lower row right). The lower panel in each plot shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 1-a:
Collinear mass distributions for the data and background processes. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% and $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% are assumed for the two signal processes. The channel is ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 1-b:
Collinear mass distributions for the data and background processes. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% and $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% are assumed for the two signal processes. The channel is ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 1-c:
Collinear mass distributions for the data and background processes. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% and $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% are assumed for the two signal processes. The channel is ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 1-d:
Collinear mass distributions for the data and background processes. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% and $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% are assumed for the two signal processes. The channel is ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau _{\mu}}$. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 2:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 0 jets (upper row left), 1 jet (upper row right), 2 jets ggH (lower row left), and 2 jets VBF (lower row right). The lower panel in each plot shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 2-a:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 0 jet. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 2-b:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 1 jet. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 2-c:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 2 jets ggH. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 2-d:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 2 jets VBF. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 3:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 0 jets (upper row left), 1 jet (upper row right), 2 jets ggH (lower row left), and 2 jets VBF (lower row right). The lower panel in each plot shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 3-a:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 0 jet. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 3-b:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 1 jet. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 3-c:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 2 jets ggH. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 3-d:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 2 jets VBF. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 4:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 0 jets (upper row left), 1 jet (upper row right), 2 jets ggH (lower row left), and 2 jets VBF (lower row right). The lower panel in each plot shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 4-a:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 0 jet. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 4-b:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 1 jet. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 4-c:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 2 jets ggH. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 4-d:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 2 jets VBF. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 5:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau _{\mu}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 0 jets (upper row left), 1 jet (upper row right), 2 jets ggH (lower row left), and 2 jets VBF (lower row right). The lower panel in each plot shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 5-a:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau _{\mu}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 0 jet. The lower panel in each plot shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 5-b:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau _{\mu}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 1 jet. The lower panel in each plot shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 5-c:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau _{\mu}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 2 jets ggH. The lower panel in each plot shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 5-d:
BDT discriminant distributions for the data and background processes in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau _{\mu}}$ channel. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The channel categories are 2 jets VBF. The lower panel in each plot shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 6:
The ${m_{\text {col}}}$ distribution in VR with same electric charge for both leptons (left), W+jets VR (middle), and ${\mathrm{t} {}\mathrm{\bar{t}}}$ VR (right). In each distribution, the VR's dominant background is shown, and all the other backgrounds are grouped into "Other bkg.''. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The lower panel in each plot shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 6-a:
The ${m_{\text {col}}}$ distribution in VR with same electric charge for both leptons. The VR's dominant background is shown, and all the other backgrounds are grouped into "Other bkg.''. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 6-b:
The ${m_{\text {col}}}$ distribution in the W+jets VR. The VR's dominant background is shown, and all the other backgrounds are grouped into "Other bkg.''. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 6-c:
The ${m_{\text {col}}}$ distribution in the ${\mathrm{t} {}\mathrm{\bar{t}}}$ VR. The VR's dominant background is shown, and all the other backgrounds are grouped into "Other bkg.''. A $ {\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)} =$ 20% is assumed for the signal. The lower panel shows the ratio of data and estimated background. The uncertainty band corresponds to the background uncertainty in which the post-fit statistical and systematic uncertainties are added in quadrature.

png pdf
Figure 7:
Observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits on the ${\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)}$ (left) and ${\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)}$ (right) for each individual category and combined. The categories from top to bottom row are ${\mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ 0Jets, ${\mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ 1Jet, ${\mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ 2 Jets, ${\mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ VBF, ${\mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ 0Jets, ${\mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ 1Jet, ${\mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ 2 Jets, ${\mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ VBF, and ${\mu \tau}$ combined (left) and e${\tau _\mathrm {h}}$ 0Jets, e${\tau _\mathrm {h}}$ 1Jet, e${\tau _\mathrm {h}}$ 2 Jets, e${\tau _\mathrm {h}}$ VBF, e$ \tau _{\mu}$ 0Jets, e$ \tau _{\mu}$ 1Jet, e$ \tau _{\mu}$ 2 Jets, e$ \tau _{\mu}$ VBF, and e$\tau$ combined (right).

png pdf
Figure 7-a:
Observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits on the ${\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau)}$ for each individual category and combined. The categories from top to bottom row are ${\mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ 0Jets, ${\mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ 1Jet, ${\mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ 2 Jets, ${\mu {\tau _\mathrm {h}}}$ VBF, ${\mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ 0Jets, ${\mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ 1Jet, ${\mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ 2 Jets, ${\mu \tau _{\mathrm{e}}}$ VBF, and ${\mu \tau}$ combined.

png pdf
Figure 7-b:
Observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits on the ${\mathcal {B}(\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau)}$ for each individual category and combined. The categories from top to bottom row are e${\tau _\mathrm {h}}$ 0Jets, e${\tau _\mathrm {h}}$ 1Jet, e${\tau _\mathrm {h}}$ 2 Jets, e${\tau _\mathrm {h}}$ VBF, e$ \tau _{\mu}$ 0Jets, e$ \tau _{\mu}$ 1Jet, e$ \tau _{\mu}$ 2 Jets, e$ \tau _{\mu}$ VBF, and e$\tau$ combined.

png pdf
Figure 8:
Expected (red line) and observed (black solid line) 95% CL upper limits on the LFV Yukawa couplings, $ {{| Y_{\mu \tau} |}} $ vs. $ {{| Y_{\tau \mu} |}} $ (left) and $ {{| Y_{\mathrm{e} \tau} |}} $ vs. $ {{| Y_{\tau \mathrm{e}} |}} $ (right). The $ {{| Y_{\mu \tau} |}} $ or $ {{| Y_{\mathrm{e} \tau} |}} $ couplings correspond to left chiral muon or electron and right chiral $\tau$ lepton, while $ {{| Y_{\tau \mu} |}} $ or $ {{| Y_{\tau \mathrm{e}} |}} $ couplings correspond to left chiral $\tau$ lepton and right chiral muon or electron. In the left plot, the expected limit is covered by the observed limit as they have similar values. The flavor diagonal Yukawa couplings are approximated by their SM values. The green and yellow bands indicate the range that is expected to contain 68% and 95% of all observed limit variations from the expected limit. The shaded regions are constraints obtained from null searches for $\tau \to 3\mu $ or $\tau \to 3\mathrm{e} $ (dark blue) [92] and $\tau \to \mu \gamma $ or $\tau \to \mathrm{e} \gamma $ (purple) [93]. The blue diagonal line is the theoretical naturalness limit $ {| Y_{ij}Y_{ji} |} = {m_i}m_j/v^2$ [11].

png pdf
Figure 8-a:
Expected (red line) and observed (black solid line) 95% CL upper limits on the LFV Yukawa couplings, $ {{| Y_{\mu \tau} |}} $ vs. $ {{| Y_{\tau \mu} |}} $. The $ {{| Y_{\mu \tau} |}} $ or $ {{| Y_{\mathrm{e} \tau} |}} $ couplings correspond to left chiral muon or electron and right chiral $\tau$ lepton, while $ {{| Y_{\tau \mu} |}} $ or $ {{| Y_{\tau \mathrm{e}} |}} $ couplings correspond to left chiral $\tau$ lepton and right chiral muon or electron. The expected limit is covered by the observed limit as they have similar values. The flavor diagonal Yukawa couplings are approximated by their SM values. The green and yellow bands indicate the range that is expected to contain 68% and 95% of all observed limit variations from the expected limit. The shaded regions are constraints obtained from null searches for $\tau \to 3\mu $ or $\tau \to 3\mathrm{e} $ (dark blue) [92] and $\tau \to \mu \gamma $ or $\tau \to \mathrm{e} \gamma $ (purple) [93]. The blue diagonal line is the theoretical naturalness limit $ {| Y_{ij}Y_{ji} |} = {m_i}m_j/v^2$ [11].

png pdf
Figure 8-b:
Expected (red line) and observed (black solid line) 95% CL upper limits on the LFV Yukawa couplings, $ {{| Y_{\mathrm{e} \tau} |}} $ vs. $ {{| Y_{\tau \mathrm{e}} |}} $. The $ {{| Y_{\mu \tau} |}} $ or $ {{| Y_{\mathrm{e} \tau} |}} $ couplings correspond to left chiral muon or electron and right chiral $\tau$ lepton, while $ {{| Y_{\tau \mu} |}} $ or $ {{| Y_{\tau \mathrm{e}} |}} $ couplings correspond to left chiral $\tau$ lepton and right chiral muon or electron. The flavor diagonal Yukawa couplings are approximated by their SM values. The green and yellow bands indicate the range that is expected to contain 68% and 95% of all observed limit variations from the expected limit. The shaded regions are constraints obtained from null searches for $\tau \to 3\mu $ or $\tau \to 3\mathrm{e} $ (dark blue) [92] and $\tau \to \mu \gamma $ or $\tau \to \mathrm{e} \gamma $ (purple) [93]. The blue diagonal line is the theoretical naturalness limit $ {| Y_{ij}Y_{ji} |} = {m_i}m_j/v^2$ [11].
Tables

png pdf
Table 1:
Event selection criteria for the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau}$ channels.

png pdf
Table 2:
Event selection criteria for the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau}$ channels.

png pdf
Table 3:
Systematic uncertainties in the expected event yields. All uncertainties are treated as correlated among categories, except those with two values separated by the $\oplus $ sign. In this case, the first value is the correlated uncertainty and the second value is the uncorrelated uncertainty for each category.

png pdf
Table 4:
Observed and expected upper limits at 95% CL and best fit branching fractions for each individual jet category, and their combinations, in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau}$ channel.

png pdf
Table 5:
Observed and expected upper limits at 95% CL and best fit branching fractions for each individual jet category, and their combinations, in the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau}$ channel.

png pdf
Table 6:
Summary of observed and expected upper limits at 95% CL, best fit branching fractions and corresponding constraints on Yukawa couplings for the ${\mathrm{H} \to \mu \tau}$ and ${\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{e} \tau}$ channels.
Summary
A search for lepton-flavor violation has been performed in the $\mu\tau$ and e$\tau$ final states of the Higgs boson in data collected by the CMS experiment. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The results are extracted through a maximum likelihood fit to a boosted decision tree output, trained to distinguish the expected signal from backgrounds. The observed (expected) upper limits on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson to $\mu\tau$ are 0.15 (0.15)% and to e$\tau$ are 0.22 (0.16)%, respectively, at 95% confidence level. Upper limits on the off-diagonal $\mu\tau$ and e$\tau$ couplings are derived from these constraints, $\sqrt{\smash[b]{|Y_{\mu\tau}| ^{2}+|{Y_{\tau\mu}}| ^{2}}} < $ 1.11 ${\times}10^{-3}$ and $\sqrt{\smash[b]{|{Y_{\mathrm{e}\tau}}| ^{2}+|{Y_{\tau\mathrm{e}}}| ^{2}}} < $ 1.35 ${\times}10^{-3}$. These results constitute an improvement over the previous limits from CMS and ATLAS experiments.
References
1 ATLAS Collaboration Measurements of the Higgs boson production and decay rates and coupling strengths using pp collision data at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 7 and 8 TeV in the ATLAS experiment EPJC 76 (2016) 6 1507.04548
2 CMS Collaboration Precise determination of the mass of the Higgs boson and tests of compatibility of its couplings with the standard model predictions using proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV EPJC 75 (2015) 212 CMS-HIG-14-009
1412.8662
3 CMS Collaboration Study of the mass and spin-parity of the Higgs boson candidate via its decays to Z boson pairs PRL 110 (2013) 081803 CMS-HIG-12-041
1212.6639
4 ATLAS Collaboration Evidence for the spin-0 nature of the Higgs boson using ATLAS data PLB 726 (2013) 120 1307.1432
5 CMS Collaboration Constraints on the spin-parity and anomalous HVV couplings of the Higgs boson in proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV PRD 92 (2015) 012004 CMS-HIG-14-018
1411.3441
6 CMS Collaboration Measurements of properties of the Higgs boson decaying into the four-lepton final state in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV JHEP 11 (2017) 047 CMS-HIG-16-041
1706.09936
7 ATLAS Collaboration Observation of a new particle in the search for the standard model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC PLB 716 (2012) 1 1207.7214
8 CMS Collaboration Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC PLB 716 (2012) 30 CMS-HIG-12-028
1207.7235
9 CMS Collaboration Observation of a new boson with mass near 125 GeV in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 7 and 8 TeV JHEP 06 (2013) 081 CMS-HIG-12-036
1303.4571
10 CMS Collaboration Combined measurements of Higgs boson couplings in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV EPJC 79 (2019) 421 CMS-HIG-17-031
1809.10733
11 R. Harnik, J. Kopp, and J. Zupan Flavor violating Higgs decays JHEP 03 (2013) 026 1209.1397
12 J. D. Bjorken and S. Weinberg A mechanism for nonconservation of muon number PRL 38 (1977) 622
13 J. L. Diaz-Cruz and J. J. Toscano Lepton flavor violating decays of Higgs bosons beyond the standard model PRD 62 (2000) 116005 hep-ph/9910233
14 T. Han and D. Marfatia $ \mathit{h} {\rightarrow} {\mu} {\tau} $ at hadron colliders PRL 86 (2001) 1442 hep-ph/0008141
15 A. Arhrib, Y. Cheng, and O. C. W. Kong Comprehensive analysis on lepton flavor violating Higgs boson to $ \mu^\mp \tau^\pm $ decay in supersymmetry without $ R $ parity PRD 87 (2013) 015025 1210.8241
16 K. Agashe and R. Contino Composite Higgs-mediated FCNC PRD 80 (2009) 075016 0906.1542
17 A. Azatov, M. Toharia, and L. Zhu Higgs mediated FCNC's in warped extra dimensions PRD 80 (2009) 035016 0906.1990
18 H. Ishimori et al. Non-Abelian discrete symmetries in particle physics Prog. Theor. Phys. Suppl. 183 (2010) 1 1003.3552
19 G. Perez and L. Randall Natural neutrino masses and mixings from warped geometry JHEP 01 (2009) 077 0805.4652
20 S. Casagrande et al. Flavor physics in the Randall-Sundrum model: I. Theoretical setup and electroweak precision tests JHEP 10 (2008) 094 0807.4937
21 A. J. Buras, B. Duling, and S. Gori The impact of Kaluza-Klein fermions on standard model fermion couplings in a RS model with custodial protection JHEP 09 (2009) 076 0905.2318
22 M. Blanke et al. $ \Delta F= $ 2 observables and fine-tuning in a warped extra dimension with custodial protection JHEP 03 (2009) 001 0809.1073
23 M. E. Albrecht et al. Electroweak and flavour structure of a warped extra dimension with custodial protection JHEP 09 (2009) 064 0903.2415
24 G. F. Giudice and O. Lebedev Higgs-dependent Yukawa couplings PLB 665 (2008) 79 0804.1753
25 J. A. Aguilar Saavedra A minimal set of top-Higgs anomalous couplings NPB 821 (2009) 215 0904.2387
26 A. Goudelis, O. Lebedev, and J. h. Park Higgs-induced lepton flavor violation PLB 707 (2012) 369 1111.1715
27 D. McKeen, M. Pospelov, and A. Ritz Modified Higgs branching ratios versus CP and lepton flavor violation PRD 86 (2012) 113004 1208.4597
28 A. Pilaftsis Lepton flavor nonconservation in $ \text{H}^{0} $ decays PLB 285 (1992) 68
29 J. G. Korner, A. Pilaftsis, and K. Schilcher Leptonic CP asymmetries in flavor changing $ \text{H}^{0} $ decays PRD 47 (1993) 1080 hep-ph/9301289
30 CMS Collaboration Search for lepton flavour violating decays of the Higgs boson to $ \mu\tau $ and e$ \tau $ in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV JHEP 06 (2018) 001 CMS-HIG-17-001
1712.07173
31 ATLAS Collaboration Searches for lepton-flavour-violating decays of the Higgs boson in $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector PLB 800 (2020) 135069 1907.06131
32 O. U. Shanker Flavor violation, scalar particles and leptoquarks NPB 206 (1982) 253
33 B. McWilliams and L.-F. Li Virtual effects of Higgs particles NPB 179 (1981) 62
34 G. Blankenburg, J. Ellis, and G. Isidori Flavour-changing decays of a 125 GeV Higgs-like particle PLB 712 (2012) 386 1202.5704
35 MEG Collaboration New constraint on the existence of the $ \mu^+ \to e^+\gamma $ decay PRL 110 (2013) 201801 1303.0754
36 A. Celis, V. Cirigliano, and E. Passemar Lepton flavor violation in the Higgs sector and the role of hadronic $ \tau $-lepton decays PRD 89 (2014) 013008 1309.3564
37 CMS Collaboration Search for lepton flavour violating decays of the Higgs boson to e$ \tau $ and e$ \mu $ in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt s= $ 8 TeV PLB 763 (2016) 472 CMS-HIG-14-040
1607.03561
38 CMS Collaboration Performance of the CMS Level-1 trigger in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV JINST 15 (2020) P10017 CMS-TRG-17-001
2006.10165
39 CMS Collaboration The CMS trigger system JINST 12 (2017) P01020 CMS-TRG-12-001
1609.02366
40 CMS Collaboration The CMS experiment at the CERN LHC JINST 3 (2008) S08004 CMS-00-001
41 T. Sjostrand et al. An introduction to PYTHIA 8.2 CPC 191 (2015) 159 1410.3012
42 CMS Collaboration Event generator tunes obtained from underlying event and multiparton scattering measurements EPJC 76 (2016) 155 CMS-GEN-14-001
1512.00815
43 CMS Collaboration Extraction and validation of a new set of CMS PYTHIA8 tunes from underlying-event measurements EPJC 80 (2020) 4 CMS-GEN-17-001
1903.12179
44 NNPDF Collaboration Parton distributions from high-precision collider data EPJC 77 (2017) 663 1706.00428
45 GEANT 4 Collaboration GEANT4 --- a simulation toolkit NIMA 506 (2003) 250
46 H. M. Georgi, S. L. Glashow, M. E. Machacek, and D. V. Nanopoulos Higgs bosons from two gluon annihilation in proton-proton collisions PRL 40 (1978) 692
47 R. N. Cahn, S. D. Ellis, R. Kleiss, and W. J. Stirling Transverse momentum signatures for heavy Higgs bosons PRD 35 (1987) 1626
48 S. L. Glashow, D. V. Nanopoulos, and A. Yildiz Associated production of Higgs bosons and Z particles PRD 18 (1978) 1724
49 P. Nason A new method for combining NLO QCD with shower monte carlo algorithms JHEP 11 (2004) 040 hep-ph/0409146
50 S. Frixione, P. Nason, and C. Oleari Matching NLO QCD computations with parton shower simulations: the POWHEG method JHEP 11 (2007) 070 0709.2092
51 S. Alioli, P. Nason, C. Oleari, and E. Re A general framework for implementing NLO calculations in shower monte carlo programs: the POWHEG BOX JHEP 06 (2010) 043 1002.2581
52 S. Alioli et al. Jet pair production in POWHEG JHEP 04 (2011) 081 1012.3380
53 S. Alioli, P. Nason, C. Oleari, and E. Re NLO Higgs boson production via gluon fusion matched with shower in POWHEG JHEP 04 (2009) 002 0812.0578
54 E. Bagnaschi, G. Degrassi, P. Slavich, and A. Vicini Higgs production via gluon fusion in the POWHEG approach in the SM and in the MSSM JHEP 02 (2012) 088 1111.2854
55 G. Heinrich et al. NLO predictions for Higgs boson pair production with full top quark mass dependence matched to parton showers JHEP 08 (2017) 088 1703.09252
56 G. Buchalla et al. Higgs boson pair production in non-linear effective field theory with full $ m_t $-dependence at NLO QCD JHEP 09 (2018) 057 1806.05162
57 J. Alwall et al. The automated computation of tree-level and next-to-leading order differential cross sections, and their matching to parton shower simulations JHEP 07 (2014) 079 1405.0301
58 J. Alwall et al. Comparative study of various algorithms for the merging of parton showers and matrix elements in hadronic collisions EPJC 53 (2008) 473 0706.2569
59 R. Frederix and S. Frixione Merging meets matching in MC@NLO JHEP 12 (2012) 061 1209.6215
60 CMS Collaboration Particle-flow reconstruction and global event description with the CMS detector JINST 12 (2017) P10003 CMS-PRF-14-001
1706.04965
61 M. Cacciari, G. P. Salam, and G. Soyez The anti-$ {k_{\mathrm{T}}} $ jet clustering algorithm JHEP 04 (2008) 063 0802.1189
62 M. Cacciari, G. P. Salam, and G. Soyez Fastjet user manual EPJC 72 (2012) 1896 1111.6097
63 CMS Collaboration Electron and photon reconstruction and identification with the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC (12, 2020) CMS-EGM-17-001
2012.06888
64 CMS Collaboration Performance of electron reconstruction and selection with the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at $ \$ \sqrt{s} = $ $ 8 TeV JINST 10 (2015) P06005 CMS-EGM-13-001
1502.02701
65 CMS Collaboration Performance of the CMS muon detector and muon reconstruction with proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV JINST 13 (2018) P06015 CMS-MUO-16-001
1804.04528
66 M. Cacciari, G. P. Salam, and G. Soyez The catchment area of jets JHEP 04 (2008) 005 0802.1188
67 CMS Collaboration Performance of reconstruction and identification of $ \tau $ leptons decaying to hadrons and $ \nu_\tau $ in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV JINST 13 (2018) P10005 CMS-TAU-16-003
1809.02816
68 CMS Collaboration Performance of the DeepTau algorithm for the discrimination of taus against jets, electrons, and muons CMS-DP-2019-033
69 CMS Collaboration Jet algorithms performance in 13 TeV data CMS-PAS-JME-16-003 CMS-PAS-JME-16-003
70 CMS Collaboration Identification of heavy-flavour jets with the CMS detector in pp collisions at 13 TeV JINST 13 (2018) P05011 CMS-BTV-16-002
1712.07158
71 M. Cacciari and G. P. Salam Pileup subtraction using jet areas PLB 659 (2008) 119 0707.1378
72 CMS Collaboration Jet energy scale and resolution in the CMS experiment in pp collisions at 8 TeV JINST 12 (2017) P02014 CMS-JME-13-004
1607.03663
73 CMS Collaboration Performance of missing transverse momentum reconstruction in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV using the CMS detector JINST 14 (2019) P07004 CMS-JME-17-001
1903.06078
74 K. Ellis, I. Hinchliffe, Soldate, and J. van der Bij Higgs decay to $ \tau^+\tau^- $: A possible signature of intermediate mass Higgs bosons at high eergy hadron colliders NPB 297 (1988) 221
75 H. Voss, A. Hocker, J. Stelzer, and F. Tegenfeldt TMVA, the toolkit for multivariate data analysis with ROOT in XIth International Workshop on Advanced Computing and Analysis Techniques in Physics Research (ACAT), p. 40 2007 [PoS(ACAT)040] physics/0703039
76 CMS Collaboration An embedding technique to determine $ \tau\tau $ backgrounds in proton-proton collision data JINST 14 (2019) P06032 CMS-TAU-18-001
1903.01216
77 CMS Collaboration Observation of the Higgs boson decay to a pair of $ \tau $ leptons with the CMS detector PLB 779 (2018) 283 CMS-HIG-16-043
1708.00373
78 J. S. Conway Nuisance parameters in likelihoods for multisource spectra in Proceedings of PHYSTAT 2011 Workshop on Statistical Issues Related to Discovery Claims in Search Experiments and Unfolding, H. Propser and L. Lyons, eds., CERN
79 CMS Collaboration Measurements of inclusive W and Z cross sections in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 7 TeV JHEP 01 (2011) 080 CMS-EWK-10-002
1012.2466
80 CMS Collaboration Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 7 TeV JINST 7 (2012) P10002 CMS-MUO-10-004
1206.4071
81 CMS Collaboration Reconstruction and identification of $ \tau $ lepton decays to hadrons and $ \nu_\tau $ at CMS JINST 11 (2016) P01019 CMS-TAU-14-001
1510.07488
82 D. de Florian et al. Handbook of LHC Higgs cross sections: 4. Deciphering the nature of the Higgs sector CERN-2017-002-M 1610.07922
83 R. J. Barlow and C. Beeston Fitting using finite Monte Carlo samples CPC 77 (1993) 219
84 CMS Collaboration CMS luminosity measurements for the 2016 data-taking period CMS-PAS-LUM-17-001
85 CMS Collaboration CMS luminosity measurement for the 2017 data-taking period at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV CMS-PAS-LUM-17-004
86 CMS Collaboration CMS luminosity measurement for the 2018 data-taking period at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV CMS-PAS-LUM-18-002
87 T. Junk Confidence level computation for combining searches with small statistics NIMA 434 (1999) 435 hep-ex/9902006
88 A. L. Read Presentation of search results: The $ \text{CL}_\text{s} $ technique JPG 28 (2002) 2693
89 G. Cowan, K. Cranmer, E. Gross, and O. Vitells Asymptotic formulae for likelihood-based tests of new physics EPJC 71 (2011) 1554 1007.1727
90 A. Denner et al. Standard model Higgs-boson branching ratios with uncertainties EPJC 71 (2011) 1753 1107.5909
91 CMS Collaboration HEPData record for this analysis link
92 K. Hayasaka et al. Search for lepton flavor violating $ \tau $ decays into three leptons with 719 million produced $ \tau^{+}\tau^{-} $ pairs PLB 687 (2010) 139 1001.3221
93 Belle Collaboration New search for $ \tau \to \mu \gamma $ and $ \tau \to e \gamma $ decays at Belle PLB 666 (2008) 16 0705.0650
Compact Muon Solenoid
LHC, CERN