Search for a non-standard-model Higgs boson decaying to a pair of new light bosons in four-muon final states

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for non-standard-model Higgs decays into pairs of light bosons that decay into muons, using LHC data, finding no excess and setting upper limits on the process.

Contribution

First search for Higgs decays to light boson pairs in four-muon final states with model-independent limits based on LHC data.

Findings

No excess events observed over standard model background.

Set an upper limit of 0.86 fb on production cross section times branching ratio.

Results constrain models with light bosons in Higgs decays.

Abstract

Results are reported from a search for non-standard-model Higgs boson decays to pairs of new light bosons, each of which decays into the oppositely charged dimuon final state. The new bosons may be produced either promptly or via a decay chain. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.3 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. Such Higgs boson decays are predicted in several scenarios of new physics, including supersymmetric models with extended Higgs sectors or hidden valleys. Thus, the results of the search are relevant for establishing whether the new particle observed in Higgs boson searches at the LHC has the properties expected for a standard model Higgs boson. No excess of events is observed with respect to the yields expected from standard model processes. A model-independent upper limit of 0.86 +/- 0.06 fb on the product of the cross section times branching fraction times acceptance is obtained. The results, which are applicable to a broad spectrum of models, are compared with the predictions of two benchmark scenarios as functions of a Higgs boson mass larger than 86 GeV and of a new light boson mass within the range 0.25-3.55 GeV.