Search for an exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a pair of light pseudoscalars in the final state with two b quarks and two τ leptons in proton–proton collisions at s=13TeV

The CMS collaboration

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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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)462-488
Number of pages27
JournalPhysics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
Volume785
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 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).

FundersFunder number
Not addedST/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 MaeztuMDM-2015-0509
STAR
Swiss Funding Agencies
UASLP-FAI
National Science Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Welch FoundationC-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 Programme675440
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 CouncilST/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 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 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 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
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 Alap124845, 123842, 125105, 124850, 123959

    Keywords

    • 2HDM + S
    • CMS
    • Exotic decays
    • Higgs boson
    • NMSSM
    • Physics

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