Charged Higgs boson production via cb-fusion at the Large Hadron Collider

We analyze the production of a light charged Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) via the quark-fusion mechanism c (b) over bar -> H- considering the decay channel H- -> tau(nu) over bar (tau), in the final state. We study this process in the framework of the two-Higgs-doublet model type III (2HDM-III) which assumes a four-zero texture in the Yukawa matrices and a general Higgs potential, wherein the two Higgs doublets coupling to both up and down fermions do generate flavor-changing neutral currents, yet the latter can be controlled by the texture when flavor physics constraints are considered. We consider the parameter space of the model where this signal is enhanced and in agreement with both theoretical constraints and experimental data. In particular, we exploit the setup with lepton-specific-like Yukawa couplings and assess the LHC sensitivity to such H-+/- signals against the dominant irreducible and reducible backgrounds. We show that in our model BR(H-+/- -> cb) similar to 0.1-0.2 and BR(H-+/- -> tau nu) similar to 0.7-0.9 so that, under these conditions the prospects for H-+/- detection in the 2HDM-III in the aforementioned production and decay channels are excellent assuming standard collider energy and luminosity conditions.