Abstract
A search for an exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a pair of light pseudoscalar bosons is performed for the first time in the final state with two b quarks and two τ leptons. The search is motivated in the context of models of physics beyond the standard model (SM), such as two Higgs doublet models extended with a complex scalar singlet (2HDM + S), which include the next-to-minimal supersymmetric SM (NMSSM). The results are based on a data set of proton–proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9fb−1, accumulated by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016 at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV. Masses of the pseudoscalar boson between 15 and 60GeV are probed, and no excess of events above the SM expectation is observed. Upper limits between 3 and 12% are set on the branching fraction B(h→aa→2τ2b) assuming the SM production of the Higgs boson. Upper limits are also set on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson to two light pseudoscalar bosons in different 2HDM + S scenarios. Assuming the SM production cross section for the Higgs boson, the upper limit on this quantity is as low as 20% for a mass of the pseudoscalar of 40GeV in the NMSSM.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 462-488 |
Number of pages | 27 |
Journal | Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics |
Volume | 785 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 10 Oct 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018 The Author(s)
Funding
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 centers 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: BMWFW and FWF (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq , CAPES , FAPERJ , 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); LAS (Lithuania); MOE and UM (Malaysia); BUAP , CINVESTAV , CONACYT , LNS , SEP , and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); MBIE (New Zealand); PAEC (Pakistan); MSHE and NSC (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Dubna); MON , ROSATOM , RAS and RFBR (Russia); MESTD (Serbia); SEIDI , CPAN , PCTI and FEDER (Spain); 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 program and the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 Grant, contract No. 675440 (European Union); the Leventis Foundation ; the Alfred 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 No. 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 program of the Foundation for Polish Science , cofinanced from European Union, Regional Development Fund, the Mobility Plus program of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education , the National Science Centre (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 programs 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). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie program and the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 Grant, contract No. 675440 (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the Alfred 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 No. 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 program of the Foundation for Polish Science, cofinanced from European Union, Regional Development Fund, the Mobility Plus program of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the National Science Centre (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 programs 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).
Funders | Funder number |
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Not added | ST/I505580/1, ST/K003542/1, ST/L005603/1, ST/J004871/1, ST/N001273/1, ST/I003622/1, ST/J005479/1, ST/N000242/1 |
CPAN | |
ERC IUT | |
EU-ESF | |
Excellence of Science | |
IWT-Belgium | |
LNS | |
MESTD | |
MON | |
MSES | |
MSHE | |
MoER | |
PCTI | |
Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia María de Maeztu | MDM-2015-0509 |
STAR | |
Swiss Funding Agencies | |
UASLP-FAI | |
National Science Foundation | |
U.S. Department of Energy | |
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation | |
Welch Foundation | C-1845 |
Hispanics in Philanthropy | |
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung | |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife | |
Ministry of Science and Technology | |
Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (COLCIENCIAS) | |
Children's Specialists Foundation | |
Qatar National Research Fund | |
Ministry of Education | |
Secretaría de Educación Pública | |
Türkiye Atom Enerjisi Kurumu | |
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 675440 |
Weston Havens Foundation | |
Santa Fe Institute | |
Louisiana Academy of Sciences | |
Rochester Academy of Science | |
National Research Foundation | |
Missouri University of Science and Technology | |
CERN | |
University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences | |
Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics | |
Cosmetic Surgery Foundation | |
Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology | |
Science and Technology Facilities Council | ST/F007434/1, ST/M004775/1 |
European Commission | |
European Research Council | |
National Stroke Foundation | |
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 | |
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 Onderzoek | 30820817 |
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 Economía y Competitividad | |
Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Wirtschaft | |
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 | |
A.G. Leventis Foundation | |
National Science and Technology Development Agency | |
Narodowe Centrum Nauki | 2014/15/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 | |
Narodowym Centrum Nauki | |
Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego | |
Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro | |
Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan | |
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine | |
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | |
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 2020 | |
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 | |
Fundació Catalana de Trasplantament | |
Helmholtz Association | |
Univerza v Mariboru | |
Department of Science and Technology, Government of Rajasthan | |
China Earthquake Administration | |
State Key Laboratory of Materials- Oriented Chemical Engineering | |
Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules | |
Nemzeti Kutatási, Fejlesztési és Innovaciós Alap | 124845, 123842, 125105, 124850, 123959 |
Keywords
- 2HDM + S
- CMS
- Exotic decays
- Higgs boson
- NMSSM
- Physics