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Table 1 Higgs coupling to up-type quarks, down-type quarks and lep-
tons in types allowed by the Z
2
symmetry. The superscript i is a gener-
ation index
u
i
R
d
i
R
i
R
Type I
2
2
2
Type II
2
1
1
Type X
2
2
1
Type Y
2
1
2
Table 2 ρ
X
factors corresponding to different flavor-conserving
2HDM types
III X Y
ρ
d
cot β −tan β cot β −tan β
ρ
u
cot β cot β cot β cot β
ρ
cot β −tan β −tan β cot β
+iv
−1
− ρ
d
m
d
¯
dγ
5
d + ρ
u
m
u
¯uγ
5
u
−ρ
m
¯
γ
5
A, (2)
where ρ
X
factors are provided in Table 2.
As seen in Table 2, coupling factors of different types dif-
fer dramatically leading to considerable differences in phe-
nomenological features of different types [18]. According to
Table 2, factors of the type-I acquire the same values (cot β)
resulting in an interesting environment in both low and high
tan β regions. Searching for the Higgs bosons in the type-I
in this study is highly motivated by the large enhancement
the H → b
¯
b channel receives at low tan β values.
2 Signal process
The process chain e
−
e
+
→ AH → ZHH → jjb
¯
bb
¯
b is
assumed as the signal process in this study and the Type- I
2HDM is assumed as the theoretical framework to benefit
from possible enhancements in low tan β regime. jj is a
pair of jets resulting from the Z boson hadronic decay Z →
jj. After the pseudoscalar Higgs boson undergoes the decay
channel A → ZH, both of the scalar CP-even Higgs bosons
experience the decay mode H → b
¯
b which receives a large
enhancement due to the cot β factor in the Higgs–fermion
coupling factors as shown in Table 2 and thus, is dominant
in low tan β regime as long as the scalar Higgs mass m
H
is
below the threshold of the on-shell top quark pair production.
The initial e
−
e
+
collision is assumed to occur at the center-
of-mass energies of 500 and 1000 GeV at a linear collider.
2.1 Benchmark points
Several benchmark points with different mass hypotheses are
assumed in the parameter space of the 2HDM as shown in
Table 3. Benchmark points corresponding to the two assumed
center-of-mass energies are simulated and analyzed sepa-
rately. The scalar Higgs boson mass m
H
is assumed to vary
in range 150–250 GeV and the mass splitting between the
H and A Higgs bosons is assumed to range from 50 to 100
GeV. tan β is set to 10 in all scenarios resulting in a consider-
able enhancement in the assumed scalar Higgs boson decay
channel.
2.2 Theoretical constraints
To ensure that the considered scenarios are consistent with
theoretical constraints, potential stability [25], perturbativity
and unitarity [26–29] of each scenario is checked with the
use of 2HDMC 1.7.0 [30,31] and the allowed range for
m
2
12
parameter is provided in Table 3.
2.3 Experimental constraints
The assumed masses of the Higgs bosons are consistent
with results of 86 analyses as checked by HiggsBounds
4.3.1 [32] and HiggsSignals 1.3.0 [33].
The experimental constraint [34,35], based on the mea-
surement performed at LEP [36], limits the deviation of
the parameter ρ = m
2
W
(m
Z
cos θ
W
)
−2
from its SM value.
To respect this constraint, the Higgs bosons A and H
±
are
assumed to have the same masses in all of the benchmark
points. This is because of the demonstration provided in
[37,38] that concludes the deviation of the ρ parameter from
its SM value is negligible if any of the conditions
m
A
= m
H
±
, m
H
= m
H
±
, (3)
is met.
As reported in [39], the ATLAS collaboration has excluded
mass regions m
A
= 310−410, 335−400, 350–400 GeV for
m
H
= 150, 200, 250 GeV respectively at tan β = 10 in the
type-I. Both CMS and ATLAS also put the limit m
A
> 350
on the pseudoscalar Higgs mass for tan β<5 in the type-
I[40,41]. Another study by ATLAS collaboration excludes
the mass range m
H
= 170 − 360 GeV for tan β<1.5in
this type [42]. It is obvious from Table 3 that the assumed
scenarios are consistent with the current constraints resulting
from direct LHC observations. In Fig. 1 the selected bench-
mark points are shown in the (m
H
,m
A
) plane together with
the current LHC exclusion contour at tan β = 10 [39]. What
is important here is that the selected points are chosen in a
way to cover regions where the mass difference between the
scalar and pseudo-scalar Higgs bosons is below the Z boson
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