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Abstract

An effective field theory provides a model-independent and phenomenologically powerful parametrisation of new physics in the Higgs sector. We analyse two aspects of this framework that are relevant for measurements of the Higgs properties during Run 2 of the LHC.

First, the limited precision of the LHC analyses cannot guarantee a clear hierarchy between the experimental momentum transfer and the probed new physics scales, casting doubt on the validity of the effective model. By comparing a range of new physics scenarios to their dimension-six approximation, we analyse if an effective description of the Higgs sector is useful, where it breaks down, and how its validity can be improved.

Second, we use information geometry to understand and optimise Higgs measurements at the LHC. Our novel approach is based on the Fisher information, which encodes the maximum precision with which theory parameters can be measured in an experiment. We develop an algorithm to calculate the Fisher information in LHC processes and compute the information on dimension-six operators in different Higgs signatures. We demonstrate how information geometry lets us improve event selections, determine the most powerful observables, and compare the power of modern multivariate techniques to that of traditional histogram-based analyses.