Strangephilic Higgs Bosons in the MSSM

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new scenario within the MSSM where Higgs bosons predominantly decay into strange quarks, suggesting alternative search strategies at the Tevatron and LHC to detect these strangephilic Higgs bosons.

Contribution

It introduces a novel MSSM parameter space region where Higgs bosons decay mainly into strange quarks, highlighting the need for different experimental search methods.

Findings

Strangephilic Higgs bosons decay mainly into strange quarks.

Standard b-jet or tau-based searches may miss these Higgs bosons.

Indirect detection via charged Higgs decays is possible.

Abstract

We suggest a new CPX-derived scenario for the search of strangephilic MSSM Higgs bosons at the Tevatron and the LHC, in which all neutral and charged Higgs bosons decay predominantly into pairs of strange quarks and into a strange and a charm quark, respectively. The proposed scenario is realized within a particular region of the MSSM parameter space and requires large values of tan(beta), where threshold radiative corrections are significant to render the effective strange-quark Yukawa coupling dominant. Experimental searches for neutral Higgs bosons based on the identification of b-quark jets or tau leptons may miss a strangephilic Higgs boson and its existence could be inferred indirectly by searching for hadronically decaying charged Higgs bosons. Potential strategies and experimental challenges to search for strangephilic Higgs bosons at the Tevatron and the LHC are discussed.