Higgs pair production in the NMSSM at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper investigates Higgs pair production in the NMSSM at the LHC, analyzing cross sections and decay channels, revealing potential enhancements and challenges in detecting lighter Higgs states.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of Higgs pair production cross sections and decay modes in the NMSSM, including scenarios with a lighter Higgs below 125 GeV.

Findings

Production rates are comparable to SM Higgs pair production.

Enhanced signals are possible if a lighter Higgs is produced.

Detection of lighter Higgs states remains challenging.

Abstract

In the NMSSM it is well possible to find an additional Higgs boson with a mass below 125 GeV which remains invisible in standard Higgs boson search channels. We study the Higgs pair production cross sections times branching fractions in this scenario, focusing on gluon fusion and the bb+tautau and bb+gammagamma final states. Summing over the SM-like and the lighter Higgs states, the production cross sections times branching fractions are never below the ones for SM Higgs pair production. Sizable enhancements of the signal rates are also possible, notably if a lighter Higgs state is produced. However, the rates involving at least one lighter Higgs boson are not always sufficiently large to guarantee its discovery.