Very Light CP-odd Higgs bosons of the NMSSM at the LHC in 4b-quark final states

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential to detect the lightest CP-odd Higgs boson in the NMSSM at the LHC via its decay into b-quark pairs, highlighting unique signatures distinguishable from the MSSM.

Contribution

It demonstrates that, at high luminosity and large tanβ, specific NMSSM parameter regions allow for the detection of the light CP-odd Higgs through the 4b final state, a feature not present in the MSSM.

Findings

Detection feasible at high luminosity and large tanβ

Distinctive NMSSM signature compared to MSSM

Parameter space regions identified for discovery

Abstract

We study the detectability of the lightest CP-odd Higgs boson of the NMSSM, $a_1$, at the LHC through its production in association with a bottom-quark pair followed by the $a_1\to b\bar b$ decay. It is shown that, for large $\tan\beta$ and very high luminosity of the LHC, there exist regions of the NMSSM parameter space that can be exploited to detect the $a_1$ through this channel. This signature is a characteristic feature of the NMSSM in comparison to the MSSM, as $a_1$ masses involved are well below those allowed in the MSSM for the corresponding CP-odd Higgs state.