Di-Higgs enhancement by neutral scalar as probe of new colored sector

Abstract We study a class of models in which the Higgs pair production is enhanced at hadron colliders by an extra neutral scalar. The scalar particle is produced by the gluon fusion via a loop of new colored particles, and decays into di-Higgs through its mixing with the Standard Model Higgs. Such a colored particle can be the top/bottom partner, such as in the dilaton model, or a colored scalar which can be triplet, sextet, octet, etc., called leptoquark, diquark, coloron, etc., respectively. We examine the experimental constraints from the latest Large Hadron Collider (LHC) data, and discuss the future prospects of the LHC and the Future Circular Collider up to 100 TeV. We also point out that the $$2.4\,\sigma $$ 2.4 σ excess in the $$b \bar{b} \gamma \gamma $$ b b ¯ γ γ final state reported by the ATLAS experiment can be interpreted as the resonance of the neutral scalar at 300 GeV