Vector-Like Fermions at FCC-ee: NLO Higgs-Strahlung Signatures and Constraints

Abstract

We compute the one-loop effects of vector-like fermions (VLFs) on the Higgs-strahlung cross-section, the flagship precision observable of future $e^+e^-$ Higgs factories such as FCC-ee. We consider four benchmark extensions of the Standard Model (SM): two in which a VL quark (VLQ) or VL lepton (VLL) doublet, together with its singlet partners, couples to the Higgs boson through purely internal Yukawa interactions, and two in which a single VL singlet mixes directly with the third-generation charged lepton or neutrino. Working throughout in the on-shell renormalization scheme and imposing perturbativity bounds on the relevant couplings under renormalization-group (RG) running, we compute both the universal self-energy and the non-universal vertex contributions to the Higgs-strahlung amplitude at one loop, together with the oblique parameters $S$ and $T$ and the $H\to\gamma\gamma$ rate as complementary cross-checks. In the two Yukawa-driven scenarios, we find that a sizable fraction of the parameter space still allowed by current LHC searches produces shifts in $\sigma(ZH)$ at or above the per-mille sensitivity envisioned for FCC-ee, offering a radiative probe of these couplings. In the two mixing-driven scenarios, existing electroweak-precision bounds on the relevant mixing angles already preclude an observable effect, although we characterize the underlying loop dynamics in full generality for future reference. These results identify the VL Yukawa couplings, rather than any residual mixing with the SM fermions, as the more promising target for Higgs-strahlung precision measurements at a future $e^+e^-$ collider.