Search for the decay of the Higgs boson to a pair of light pseudoscalar bosons in the final state with four bottom quarks in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV


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Hayrapetyan A., Tumasyan A., Adam W., Andrejkovic J., Bergauer T., Chatterjee S., ...More

Journal of High Energy Physics, vol.2024, no.6, 2024 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 2024 Issue: 6
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/jhep06(2024)097
  • Journal Name: Journal of High Energy Physics
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, INSPEC, zbMATH, Directory of Open Access Journals, Nature Index
  • Keywords: Beyond Standard Model, Hadron-Hadron Scattering, Supersymmetry
  • Yıldız Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

A search is presented for the decay of the 125 GeV Higgs boson (H) to a pair of new light pseudoscalar bosons (a), followed by the prompt decay of each a boson to a bottom quark-antiquark pair, H→aa→bb¯bb¯. The analysis is performed using a data sample of proton-proton collisions collected with the CMS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. To reduce the background from standard model processes, the search requires the Higgs boson to be produced in association with a leptonically decaying W or Z boson. The analysis probes the production of new light bosons in a 15 < ma < 60 GeV mass range. Assuming the standard model predictions for the Higgs boson production cross sections for pp → WH and ZH, model independent upper limits at 95% confidence level are derived for the branching fraction BH→aa→bb¯bb¯. The combined WH and ZH observed upper limit on the branching fraction ranges from 1.10 for ma = 20 GeV to 0.36 for ma = 60 GeV, complementing other measurements in the μμττ, ττττ and bbℓℓ (ℓ = μ, τ) channels.