Simulations and flavour-scheme studies for Higgs-boson production in association with charm quarks

Abstract

We present a detailed NLO+PS study of Higgs-boson production in association with charm and bottom quarks, with particular focus on the modelling of the H+c final state. We systematically compare predictions in massive and massless flavour schemes, quantify scale and flavour-scheme uncertainties, and assess the impact of interference and loop-induced contributions. Special emphasis is placed on the Higgs production via charm Yukawa fusion, for which we compare NLO+PS predictions with a NNLO+PS calculation of $c\bar{c}H$ production in the four-flavour scheme at 13.6 TeV. Based on these results, we provide the first practical recommendations for the simulation of $c\bar{c}H$ production in LHC analyses.