Probing the Validity of EFT Approaches in Higgs + Jet Production at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV

Abstract

The production of a Higgs boson with a jet is one of the most important processes studied at the LHC. It serves as a sensitive probe of high-energy dynamics and provides a powerful testing ground for the Standard Model, while also offering sensitivity to possible new physics effects. In this work, we perform a phenomenological study of Higgs + jet production in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV center of mass energy, using the MadGraph5_aMC@NLO framework. We compare predictions obtained from the full loop induced Standard Model with those derived within the HEFT and SMEFT frameworks. Taking the Higgs transverse momentum as a probe, we study normalized distributions and ratio spectra to test the effective field theories. Our results show that effective approaches successfully reproduce the Standard Model behavior in the low transverse-momentum region. However, sizable deviations emerge at high pT, signaling the breakdown of the effective approximation. These findings highlight the importance of carefully accounting for kinematic effects when applying EFT-based methods to precision Higgs studies and provide a quantitative estimate of their range of validity.