Speaker
Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution
Prof. Bruce Mellado, bmellado@mail.cern.ch, University of the Witwatersrand
Level for award<br> (Hons, MSc, <br> PhD, N/A)?
MSc
Please indicate whether<br>this abstract may be<br>published online<br>(Yes / No)
Yes
Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?
Yes
Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> award (Yes / No)?
Yes
Abstract content <br> (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>
The Higgs field mass term in the Standard Model is exceptionally unique. While all of the other interaction terms in the Standard Model are associated with strictly renormalisable dimension 4 operators (and therefore having marginal couplings), the Higgs field mass term has a coupling of dimension 2. This allows us to explore the possibility of the Higgs boson having decay channels consisting of particles being $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)$ singlets, meaning that they do not interact with any Standard Model particles apart from the Higgs. We could treat these particles as candidates in a field of study which is now being known as Higgs portal dark matter. In order to test this possibility, a model independent theory has been developed in the form of a Lagrangian consisting of extensions to the Standard Model: a heavy Scalar $H$ and a non-interacting dark matter scalar $chi$, along with associated trilinear and quartic couplings. The implications of this model are considered where a Monte Carlo study has been performed on the process $gg\to H\to h\chi\chi$, in order to obtain results which can be directly linked to experimental observations.
