Testing minimal universal extra dimensions using Higgs boson searches at the LHC

Large Hadron Collider (LHC) searches for the SM Higgs boson provide a powerful limit on models involving universal extra dimensions (UED) where the Higgs production is enhanced. We have evaluated all one-loop diagrams for Higgs production gg→h and decay h→γγ within "minimal" UED (mUED), independently confirming previous results, and we have evaluated enhancement factors for Higgs boson production and decay over the mUED parameter space. Using these we have derived limits on the parameter space, combining data from both ATLAS and CMS collaborations for the most recent 7 and 8 TeV LHC data. We have performed a rigorous statistical combination of several Higgs boson search channels which is important because mUED signatures from the Higgs boson are not universally enhanced. We have found that R^-1<500 GeV is excluded at a 95% confidence level (CL), while for larger R^-1 only a very narrow (±1-4 GeV) mass window around m_h=125 GeV and another window (up to 2 GeV wide for R^-1>1000 GeV) around m_h=118 GeV are left. The latter is likely to be excluded as more data becomes available whereas the region around m_h=125 GeV is where the recently discovered Higgs-like particle was observed and therefore where the exclusion limit is weaker. It is worth stressing that mUED predicts an enhancement for all channels for gg→h production and decay while the vector boson fusion process WW/ZZ→h→γγ is generically suppressed and WW/ZZ→h→WW^*/ZZ^* is standard. Therefore, as more 8 TeV LHC data becomes available, the information on individual Higgs boson production and decay processes provided by the CMS and ATLAS experiments can be effectively used to favor mUED or exclude it further.