Search for an exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a pair of light pseudoscalars in the final state with two muons and two b quarks in pp collisions at 13 TeV

The CMS collaboration

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Abstract

A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson to a pair of light pseudoscalar particles a1 is performed under the hypothesis that one of the pseudoscalars decays to a pair of opposite sign muons and the other decays to bb‾. Such signatures are predicted in a number of extensions of the standard model (SM), including next-to-minimal supersymmetry and two-Higgs-doublet models with an additional scalar singlet. The results are based on a data set of proton-proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1, accumulated with the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2016 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No statistically significant excess is observed with respect to the SM backgrounds in the search region for pseudoscalar masses from 20 GeV to half of the Higgs boson mass. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction, σhB(h→a1a1→μ+μbb‾), ranging from 5 to 33 fb, depending on the pseudoscalar mass. Corresponding limits on the branching fraction, assuming the SM prediction for σh, are (1–7)×10−4.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)398-423
Number of pages26
JournalPhysics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
Volume795
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Aug 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s)

Funding

Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie programme and the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 Grant, contract No. 675440 (European Union); the Leventis Foundation ; the A.P. Sloan Foundation ; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation ; the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office ; the Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium); the Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT-Belgium); the F.R.S.-FNRS and FWO (Belgium) under the “Excellence of Science – EOS” – be.h project n. 30820817 ; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of the Czech Republic; the Lendület (“Momentum”) Programme and the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the New National Excellence Program ÚNKP, the NKFIA research grants 123842 , 123959 , 124845 , 124850 , and 125105 (Hungary); the Council of Science and Industrial Research, India ; the HOMING PLUS programme of the Foundation for Polish Science , cofinanced from European Union , Regional Development Fund, the Mobility Plus programme of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the National Science Center (Poland), contracts Harmonia 2014/14/M/ST2/00428 , Opus 2014/13/B/ST2/02543 , 2014/15/B/ST2/03998 , and 2015/19/B/ST2/02861 , Sonata-bis 2012/07/E/ST2/01406 ; the National Priorities Research Program by Qatar National Research Fund ; the Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia María de Maeztu , grant MDM-2015-0509 and the Programa Severo Ochoa del Principado de Asturias; the Thalis and Aristeia programmes cofinanced by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF; the Rachadapisek Sompot Fund for Postdoctoral Fellowship, Chulalongkorn University and the Chulalongkorn Academic into Its 2nd Century Project Advancement Project (Thailand); the Welch Foundation , contract C-1845 ; and the Weston Havens Foundation (USA). We congratulate our colleagues in the CERN accelerator departments for the excellent performance of the LHC and thank the technical and administrative staffs at CERN and at other CMS institutes for their contributions to the success of the CMS effort. In addition, we gratefully acknowledge the computing centres and personnel of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid for delivering so effectively the computing infrastructure essential to our analyses. Finally, we acknowledge the enduring support for the construction and operation of the LHC and the CMS detector provided by the following funding agencies: BMBWF and FWF (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, FAPERGS, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MOST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES and CSF (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); SENESCYT (Ecuador); MoER, ERC IUT, and ERDF (Estonia); Academy of Finland, MEC, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); NKFIA (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); MSIP and NRF (Republic of Korea); MES (Latvia); LAS (Lithuania); MOE and UM (Malaysia); BUAP, CINVESTAV, CONACYT, LNS, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); MOS (Montenegro); MBIE (New Zealand); PAEC (Pakistan); MSHE and NSC (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Dubna); MON, ROSATOM, RAS, RFBR, and NRC KI (Russia); MESTD (Serbia); SEIDI, CPAN, PCTI, and FEDER (Spain); MoSTR (Sri Lanka); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); MST (Taipei); ThEPCenter, IPST, STAR, and NSTDA (Thailand); TÜBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); NASU and SFFR (Ukraine); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie programme and the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 Grant, contract No. 675440 (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A.P. Sloan Foundation; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office; the Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium); the Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT-Belgium); the F.R.S.-FNRS and FWO (Belgium) under the “Excellence of Science – EOS” – be.h project n. 30820817; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of the Czech Republic; the Lendület (“Momentum”) Programme and the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the New National Excellence Program ÚNKP, the NKFIA research grants 123842, 123959, 124845, 124850, and 125105 (Hungary); the Council of Science and Industrial Research, India; the HOMING PLUS programme of the Foundation for Polish Science, cofinanced from European Union, Regional Development Fund, the Mobility Plus programme of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the National Science Center (Poland), contracts Harmonia 2014/14/M/ST2/00428, Opus 2014/13/B/ST2/02543, 2014/15/B/ST2/03998, and 2015/19/B/ST2/02861, Sonata-bis 2012/07/E/ST2/01406; the National Priorities Research Program by Qatar National Research Fund; the Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia María de Maeztu, grant MDM-2015-0509 and the Programa Severo Ochoa del Principado de Asturias; the Thalis and Aristeia programmes cofinanced by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF; the Rachadapisek Sompot Fund for Postdoctoral Fellowship, Chulalongkorn University and the Chulalongkorn Academic into Its 2nd Century Project Advancement Project (Thailand); the Welch Foundation, contract C-1845; and the Weston Havens Foundation (USA). We congratulate our colleagues in the CERN accelerator departments for the excellent performance of the LHC and thank the technical and administrative staffs at CERN and at other CMS institutes for their contributions to the success of the CMS effort. In addition, we gratefully acknowledge the computing centres and personnel of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid for delivering so effectively the computing infrastructure essential to our analyses. Finally, we acknowledge the enduring support for the construction and operation of the LHC and the CMS detector provided by the following funding agencies: BMBWF and FWF (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq , CAPES , FAPERJ , FAPERGS , and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN ; CAS , MOST , and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES and CSF (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); SENESCYT (Ecuador); MoER , ERC IUT , and ERDF (Estonia); Academy of Finland , MEC , and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF , DFG , and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); NKFIA (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); MSIP and NRF (Republic of Korea); MES (Latvia); LAS (Lithuania); MOE and UM (Malaysia); BUAP , CINVESTAV , CONACYT , LNS , SEP , and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); MOS (Montenegro); MBIE (New Zealand); PAEC (Pakistan); MSHE and NSC (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Dubna); MON , ROSATOM , RAS , RFBR , and NRC KI (Russia); MESTD (Serbia); SEIDI , CPAN , PCTI , and FEDER (Spain); MoSTR (Sri Lanka); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); MST (Taipei); ThEPCenter , IPST , STAR , and NSTDA (Thailand); TÜBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); NASU and SFFR (Ukraine); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA).

FundersFunder number
Not addedST/K003542/1, ST/M004775/1, ST/N001273/1, ST/N000242/1
CPAN
EU-ESF
Excellence of Science
MSES
MoER
PCTI
Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia María de MaeztuMDM-2015-0509
STAR
National Science Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Welch FoundationC-1845
Hispanics in Philanthropy
National Sleep Foundation
Human Growth Foundation
Maryland Ornithological Society
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (COLCIENCIAS)
California Earthquake Authority
Qatar National Research Fund
Direktion für Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit
Center for African Studies
Secretaría de Educación Pública
Fuel Cell Technologies Office
University of Manitoba
Türkiye Atom Enerjisi Kurumu
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
H2020 European Research Council
Weston Havens Foundation
Santa Fe Institute
Louisiana Academy of Sciences
Missouri University of Science and Technology
CERN
Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics
Cosmetic Surgery Foundation
Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology
Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej
Mountain Equipment Co-op
Science and Technology Facilities CouncilST/L005603/1, GRIDPP
Royal Astronomical Society
European Commission
European Research Council
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India
Ministry of Education - Singapore
Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India
Science Foundation Ireland
Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Research Promotion Foundation
Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy
National Science Council
Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Russian Foundation for Basic Research
Eesti Teadusagentuur
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Academy of Finland
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Austrian Science Fund
Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
Russian Academy of Sciences
Belgian Federal Science Policy Office
Chulalongkorn University
Federación Española de Enfermedades Raras
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek30820817
Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie
Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l’Industrie et dans l’Agriculture
Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología
Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte
General Secretariat for Research and Technology
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning
National Research Foundation of Korea
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
Ministry of Science ICT and Future Planning
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
A.G. Leventis Foundation
Instituto Politécnico de Macau
National Science and Technology Development Agency
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul
Narodowe Centrum Nauki2014/15/B/ST2/03998, 2012/07/E/ST2/01406, 2015/19/B/ST2/02861, 2014/14/M/ST2/00428, 2014/13/B/ST2/02543
Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación
Universiti Malaya
Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştirma Kurumu
Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnološkog Razvoja
Ministerstwo Edukacji i Nauki
Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment
Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Isfahan University of Technology
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí
Ministry of Education and Science
Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Frauen
Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación
Horizon 2020675440
European Regional Development Fund
State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM
Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
State Fund for Fundamental Research of Ukraine
Ministry of Science,Technology and Research
Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie
Norsk Revmatikerforbund
Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules
Nemzeti Kutatási, Fejlesztési és Innovaciós Alap124845, 123842, 125105, 124850, 123959
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute"
Laboratorio Nacional de Supercómputo del Sureste de Mexico

    Keywords

    • BSM Higgs physics
    • CMS
    • Physics

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