Searching for a charged Higgs boson with both H±W±Z and H±tb couplings at the LHC

In certain new physics scenarios, a singly charged Higgs boson can couple to both fermions and W(+/-)Z at tree level. We develop new strategies beyond current experimental searches using pp jjH(+/-), H-+/- tb at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). With the effective H(+/-)W(+/-)Z and H(+/-)tb couplings we perform a model-independent analysis at the collision energy =13 TeV with the integrated luminosity of 3 ab(-1). We derive the discovery prospects and exclusion limits for the charged Higgs boson in the mass range from 200 GeV to 1 TeV. With |F-WZ|, |A(t)| approximate to 0.5-1.0 and 300 GeV less than or similar to mH +/- less than or similar to 400 GeV, we point out that a discovery significance of 5 sigma can be achieved. The constraints and projected sensitivities are also discussed in a realistic model, i.e., the modified Georgi-Machacek model without custodial symmetry. Our proposed search would provide direct evidence for a charged Higgs boson H-+/- that couples to W(+/-)Z and tb, and has better sensitivity to the couplings of (HW +/-)-W-+/- Z and H(+/-)tb than current searches.