Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons decaying to tau^+ tau^- pairs in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons decaying into tau pairs using 7 TeV proton-proton collision data from the ATLAS detector, setting limits on production cross sections and MSSM parameters.

Contribution

It presents the first search for MSSM Higgs bosons in tau pairs at 7 TeV with ATLAS, providing exclusion limits on their production and MSSM parameters.

Findings

Observed events are consistent with background expectations.

Exclusion limits are set on Higgs production cross sections.

Constraints are placed on MSSM parameters m_A and tan(beta).

Abstract

A search for neutral Higgs bosons decaying to pairs of tau leptons with the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. The analysis is based on proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, recorded in 2010 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb^-1. After signal selection, 276 events are observed in this data sample. The observed number of events is consistent with the total expected background of 269 +/- 36 events. Exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are derived for the production cross section of a generic Higgs boson phi as a function of the Higgs boson mass and for A/H/h production in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) as a function of the parameters m_A and tan(beta).