VBF and VH (Chapter I.5)

The production of a Standard Model Higgs boson in association with two hard jets in the forward and backward regions of the detector, frequently quoted as the “vector-boson fusion” (VBF) channel, and the production of a Higgs boson in association with a W or Z boson, known as “VH production” or “Higgsstrahlung”, represent cornerstones in a comprehensive study of Higgs boson couplings at the LHC. These production channels do not only provide valuable information on the couplings of Higgs bosons to the massive gauge bosons by themselves, but also allow for the isolation of the Higgs boson decays into -lepton or bottom-quark pairs, whose investigation is essential in the Higgs boson couplings analysis. In the previous reports [7–9], state-of-the-art predictions and error estimates for the total and differential cross sections for pp ! H + 2 jets and pp ! HV ! H + 2 leptons were compiled (with V = W; Z), but the process of improving and refining predictions is still ongoing, even within the Standard Model. In this contribution we update the cross-section predictions for VBF and VH production, covering integrated total and fiducial cross sections as well as differential distributions. In detail, the presented state-of-the-art predictions include QCD corrections up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO), electroweak (EW) corrections up to next-to-leading order (NLO), and contributions from specific partonic channels that open at higher perturbative orders, such as photon-induced collisions or gluon-fusion contributions. Apart from collecting numerical results, we give recommendations as to how to combine the individual components and to assess conservative estimates of remaining theoretical uncertainties. Moreover, issues connected to the matching and the impact of parton showers (PS) are discussed.