We define a Higgs descendant $\chi$ to be a particle beyond the standard model whose mass arises predominantly from the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs boson. Higgs descendants arise naturally from new physics whose intrinsic mass scale is unrelated to the electroweak scale. The coupling of $\chi$ to the Higgs boson is fixed by the mass and spin of $\chi$, yielding a highly predictive setup in which there may be substantial modifications to the properties of the Higgs boson. For example, if the decay of the Higgs boson to $\chi$ is kinematically allowed, then this branching ratio is largely determined. Depending on the stability of $\chi$, Higgs decays may result in a variety of possible visible or invisible final states. Alternatively, loops of $\chi$ may affect Higgs boson production or its decays to standard model particles. If $\chi$ is stable dark matter, then the mandatory coupling between $\chi$ and the Higgs boson gives a lower bound on the direct detection cross section as a function of the $\chi$ mass. We also present a number of explicit models which are examples of Higgs descendants. Finally, we comment on Higgs descendants in the context of the excesses near 125 GeV recently observed at ATLAS and CMS.

• Received 13 May 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.86.015004