Enhancement of H → γγ from doubly charged scalars in the Higgs triplet model

The Higgs boson of the Standard Model is being searched for at the LHC in the channel H -> gamma gamma. In the Higgs Triplet Model (HTM), there are contributions to this decay from loops of doubly charged scalars (H-+/-+/-) and singly charged scalars (H-+/-) which are not present in the Standard Model. These additional contributions are mediated by the trilinear couplings H1H++H-- and H1H+H-, where H-1 is the lightest CP-even Higgs boson. We point out the possibility of constructive interference of the H-+/-+/- contribution with that of the W-+/- contribution, which enables a substantial enhancement of the branching ratio of H-1 -> gamma gamma in the HTM. The magnitude of the contribution of H-+/-+/- is essentially determined by the mass of H-+/-+/- (m(H++)) and a quartic scalar coupling (lambda(1)), with constructive interference arising for lambda(1) < 0. Consequently, the ongoing searches for H -> gamma gamma restrict the parameter space of [m(H++); lambda(1)] more stringently for lambda(1) < 0 than for the recently studied case of destructive interference with lambda(1) > 0. Moreover, if the excess of gamma gamma events around a mass of 125 GeV in the LHC searches for H -> gamma gamma is substantiated with larger data samples, and the branching ratio is measured to be somewhat larger than that for the SM Higgs boson, then such an enhancement could be readily accommodated by H-1 in the HTM with lambda(1) < 0.