The first measurement of the CP structure of the Yukawa coupling between the Higgs boson and tau leptons is presented. The measurement is based on data collected in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV by the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1).
The analysis uses the angular correlation between the decay planes of tau leptons produced in Higgs boson decays. The effective mixing angle between CP-even and CP-odd tau Yukawa couplings is found to be -1 +/- 19 degrees, compared to an expected value of 0 +/- 21 degrees at the 68.3% confidence level.
The data disfavour the pure CP-odd scenario at 3.0 standard deviations. The results are compatible with predictions for the standard model Higgs boson.