Search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson to a pair of pseudoscalars in the μμbb and ττbb final states

(CMS Collaboration) Hayrapetyan, Aram ; ... ; Giljanović, Duje ; Godinović, Nikola ; Lelas, Damir ; Šćulac, Ana ; Kovač, Marko ; Šćulac, Toni ; Bargassa, Pedrame ; Brigljević, Vuko ; Chitroda, Bhakti Kanulal ; Ferenček, Dinko ; Mishra, Saswat ; Starodumov, Andrey ; Šuša, Tatjana ; ... ; Roguljić, Matej ; ... ; Zhokin, Alexander (2024) Search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson to a pair of pseudoscalars in the μμbb and ττbb final states. European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields, 84 (5). ISSN 1434-6044

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Abstract

A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson (H) with a mass of 125 GeV to a pair of light pseudoscalars is performed in final states where one pseudoscalar decays to two b quarks and the other to a pair of muons or leptons. A data sample of proton-proton collisions at = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb recorded with the CMS detector is analyzed. No statistically significant excess is observed over the standard model backgrounds. Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level (CL) on the Higgs boson branching fraction to bb and to bb, via a pair of s. The limits depend on the pseudoscalar mass and are observed to be in the range (0.17-3.3) 10 and (1.7-7.7) 10 in the bb and bb final states, respectively. In the framework of models with two Higgs doublets and a complex scalar singlet (2HDM+S), the results of the two final states are combined to determine model-independent upper limits on the branching fraction (H bb) at 95% CL, with being a muon or a lepton. For different types of 2HDM+S, upper bounds on the branching fraction (H ) are extracted from the combination of the two channels. In most of the Type II 2HDM+S parameter space, H ) values above 0.23 are excluded at 95% CL for values between 15 and 60 GeV.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	high energy physics ; experimental particle physics ; LHC ; CMS ; p p: colliding beams ; Higgs particle: decay modes ; decay: exotic ; muon: pair production ; tau: pair production ; bottom: pair production ; Higgs particle: branching ratio: upper limit ; mass: pseudoscalar ; singlet: scalar ; bottom: 2 ; p p: scattering ; Higgs particle: doublet ; final state: ((n)jet dilepton) ; background ; CERN LHC Coll ; experimental results
Subjects:	NATURAL SCIENCES NATURAL SCIENCES > Physics NATURAL SCIENCES > Physics > Physics of Elementary Particles and Fields
Divisions:	Centre for detectors, sensors and electronics Division of Experimental Physics
Depositing User:	Martina Žugaj
Date Deposited:	08 Oct 2024 11:13
URI:	http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/9136
DOI:	10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-12727-4

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