Using the Higgs boson to probe the littlest Higgs model with T-parity through $Z_H W_H$ production at the LHC

Abstract: In the littlest Higgs model with T-parity, the production cross section of the T-odd heavy gauge boson pair $Z_H W_H$ is quite sizable at the LHC. In addition, both the $W_H$ and $Z_H$ bosons have almost exclusively one decay channel into $W A_H$ and $H A_H$ respectively, where the dark matter candidate $A_H$ yields a large missing energy signal. Upon the discovery of the Higgs boson at 125 GeV, we study the discovery sensitivity of the final state $ pp \to b\bar{b} l+\rlap{\,/}{E}_T$ to probe the model at the LHC. We find that the standard model backgrounds are manageable by applying suitable kinematic cuts. The LHC running at $\sqrt{s}=14$ TeV with a 100/fb total luminosity is sensitive to the model if the symmetry breaking scale $f$ is below about 850 GeV.