Search for lepton-flavor violating decays of the Higgs boson in the μτ and eτ final states in proton-proton collisions at √s=13 TeV

A search is presented for lepton-flavor violating decays of the Higgs boson to mu t and et. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant excess has been found, and the results are interpreted in terms of upper limits on lepton-flavor violating branching fractions of the Higgs boson. The observed (expected) upper limits on the branching fractions are, respectively, B(H -> mu t) < 0.15(0.15)% and B(H -> e tau) < 0.22(0.16)% at 95% confidence level.

Automated summary

A search was conducted for lepton-flavor violating decays of the Higgs boson to mu t and e t using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected at the LHC. No significant excess was found, and upper limits on lepton-flavor violating branching fractions of the Higgs boson were determined. The observed upper limits at 95% confidence level for B(H -> mu t) and B(H -> e tau) are < 0.15% and < 0.22%, respectively.