Effective field theory descriptions of Higgs boson pair production

Higgs boson pair production is traditionally considered to be of particular interest for a measurement of the trilinear Higgs self-coupling. Yet it can offer insights into other couplings as well, since – in an effective field theory (EFT) parameterisation of potential new physics – both the production cross section and kinematical properties of the Higgs boson pair depend on various other Wilson coefficients of EFT operators. This note summarises the ongoing efforts related to the development of EFT tools for Higgs boson pair production in gluon fusion, and provides recommendations for the use of distinct EFT parameterisations in the Higgs boson pair production process. This document also outlines where further efforts are needed and provides a detailed analysis of theoretical uncertainties. Additionally, benchmark scenarios are updated. We also re-derive a parameterisation of the next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections in terms of the EFT Wilson coefficients both for the total cross section and the distribution in the invariant mass of the Higgs boson pair, providing for the first time also the covariance matrix. A reweighting procedure making use of the newly derived coefficients is validated, which can be used to significantly speed up experimental analyses.