Exploring the global symmetry structure of the Higgs potential via same-sign pair production of charged Higgs bosons

We propose a novel process where singly charged Higgs bosons are produced in a same-sign pair via vector boson fusion at hadron colliders in two Higgs doublet models. The process directly relates to the global symmetry structure of the Higgs potential. The produced charged Higgs bosons predominantly decay into a tau lepton and the neutrino or into a pair of top and bottom quarks, depending on the type of Yukawa interactions. We evaluate the signal and the background for the both cases at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and future higher-energy hadron colliders. We find that the process can be feasible and useful to explore the nature of the Higgs potential. (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.