The Higgs boson in the MSSM in light of the LHC

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the expected signals of the light Higgs boson in the MSSM at the LHC, considering dark matter and flavor constraints, and discusses how various parameters affect Higgs detection prospects.

Contribution

It provides a detailed assessment of Higgs signal strengths in the MSSM under realistic constraints, highlighting potential suppressions and enhancements in different search channels.

Findings

The gamma gamma Higgs signal is at most SM-like in strength.

Enhanced signals are possible in h→bb and h→tau tau channels.

Significant suppression occurs at low M_A or with large invisible widths.

Abstract

We investigate the expectations for the light Higgs signal in the MSSM in different search channels at the LHC. After taking into account dark matter and flavor constraints in the MSSM with eleven free parameters, we show that the light Higgs signal in the $gamma\gamma$ channel is expected to be at most at the level of the SM Higgs, while the $h\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ from W fusion and/or the $h \rightarrow\tau\bar\tau$ can be enhanced. For the main discovery mode, we show that a strong suppression of the signal occurs in two different cases: low $M_A$ or large invisible width. A more modest suppression is associated with the effect of light supersymmetric particles. Looking for such modification of the Higgs properties and searching for supersymmetric partners and pseudoscalar Higgs offer two complementary probes of supersymmetry.