The first measurement of the CP structure of the Yukawa coupling between the Higgs boson and τ leptons is presented. The measurement is based on data collected in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV by the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{−1}$. The analysis uses the angular correlation between the decay planes of τ leptons produced in Higgs boson decays. The effective mixing angle between CP-even and CP-odd τ Yukawa couplings is found to be −1 ± 19°, compared to an expected value of 0 ± 21° at the 68.3% confidence level. The data disfavour the pure CP-odd scenario at 3.0 standard deviations. The results are compatible with predictions for the standard model Higgs boson.[graphic not available: see fulltext]
Benecke, A., Bethani, A., Bruno, G., Bury, F., Caputo, C., David, P., Delaere, C., Donertas, I. S., Giammanco, A., Jaffel, K., Jain, S., Jain, S., Lemaitre, V., Mondal, K., Prisciandaro, J., Taliercio, A., Teklishyn, M., Tran, T. T., Vischia, P., et al. (2022). Analysis of the CP structure of the Yukawa coupling between the Higgs boson and τ leptons in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV. Journal of High Energy Physics, 06. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP06(2022)012 (Original work published 2022)