Search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson into $b\bar{b}$ and missing transverse momentum in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for the exotic decay of the Higgs boson (H) into a $b\bar{b}$ resonance plus missing transverse momentum is described. The search is performed with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider using 139 fb-1 of pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The search targets events from $ZH$ production in an NMSSM scenario where H → $\tilde{χ}^0_2\tilde{χ}^0_1$, with $\tilde{χ}^0_2$ → a$\tilde{χ}^0_1$, where a is a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson and $\tilde{χ}^0_{1,2}$ are the two lightest neutralinos. The decay of the a boson into a pair of b-quarks results in a peak in the dijet invariant mass distribution. The final-state signature consists of two leptons, two or more jets, at least one of which is identified as originating from a b-quark, and missing transverse momentum. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations and upper limits are set on the product of cross section times branching ratio for a three-dimensional scan of the masses of the $\tilde{χ}^0_2\tilde{χ}^0_1$ and a boson.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.