Unlocking the charm-Higgs coupling at the LHC

Our celebrated discovery of the Higgs boson by the LHC experiments at CERN in 2012 completed the collection of elementary particles that build up matter around us. To confirm its central place in our understanding of particle physics, the interaction strength (or coupling) of the Higgs boson to all three families of quarks and leptons must be measured and compared to theoretical predictions. Using the proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, we have successfully contributed to the milestone measurements of this coupling to the heaviest family of quarks, i.e. the top and bottom quarks. The next step is to unlock the charm quark-Higgs coupling that was previously anticipated not to be within reach of the LHC experiments. We propose a coherent and innovative experimental programme at the LHC to enable a first glimpse of this coupling with the potential to result in a legacy measurement.