QCD predictions for event-shape distributions in hadronic Higgs decays

Abstract

We study the six classical event-shape observables in hadronic Higgs decays at next-to-leading order in QCD. To this end, we consider the decay of on-shell Higgs bosons to three partons, taking into account both the Yukawa-induced decay to b-quark pairs and the loop-induced decay to two gluons via an effective Higgs-gluon coupling. The results are discussed with a particular focus on the discriminative power of event shapes regarding these two classes of processes.