摘要
Profiling the Higgs boson requires the study of its non-standard decay modes. In this work we discuss the prospects of the Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC) to detect scalar particles with masses ,≳ 10 GeV produced from decays of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson. These scalar particles decay mainly to bottom pairs, and in a vast portion of the allowed parameter space they acquire a macroscopic lifetime, hence giving rise to displaced hadronic vertices. The LHeC provides a very clean environment that allows for easy identification of these final states, in contrast to hadronic colliders where the overwhelming backgrounds and high pile-up render such searches incredibly challenging. We find that the LHeC provides a unique window of opportunity to detect scalar particles with masses between 10 and 30 GeV. In the Higgs Portal scenarios we can test the mixing angle squared, sin 2 α, as low as 10 −5 –10 −7 , with the exact value depending on the vacuum expectation value of the new scalar. Our results are also presented in a model-independent fashion in the lifetime-branching ratio and mass-branching ratio planes. We have found that exotic branching ratios of the Higgs boson at the sub-percent level can be probed, for the scalar decay length in the range 10 −4 m ≲ cτ ≲ 10 −1 m. The expected coverage of the parameter space largely exceeds the published sensitivity of the indirect reach at the high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider via the invisible Higgs branching ratio.