The discussion revolves around the possibility of a Higgs boson decaying into a top-antitop quark pair when the Higgs is off-shell. Participants explore the theoretical implications of such a decay, its likelihood, and the distinction between decay processes and production processes involving virtual particles.
Participants do not reach a consensus on the classification of the process as a decay versus a production mechanism. There is a general agreement that the likelihood of such an off-shell decay is low and that it would be overshadowed by other processes, but the discussion remains unresolved regarding the specifics of how off-shell particles interact.
The discussion highlights the complexities of particle interactions involving off-shell particles, including the need for clarity on definitions and the implications of phase space in such processes. The distinction between decay and production processes is emphasized, but not fully resolved.
I am not sure I understand what you mean. If you produce an off shell higgs boson with a ##q^2 = 2 m_t##, the higgs can in principle decay to 2 on shell top quarks. Isn't that right? I am not sure what you mean by off-shell top in this case.Vanadium 50 said:How do you make this very off-shell Higgs boson? You seem to be confusing the Higgs being off-shell with the top being off-shell.
Thanks a lot! Right, it is not really a decay, I was just wondering if it can happen at all (even if strongly suppressed). This answered my question.Reggid said:When you calculate the amplitude for a process like ##q\bar{q}\to t\bar{t}##, where the q's should stand for any light quarks in the proton, then you also have a tree-level diagram with only one Higgs-propagator, that contributes to the full amplitude (though it will be strongly suppressed).
But you would usually not call this a "Higgs decay".
Malamala said:I was just wondering if it can happen at all (even if strongly suppressed).