Excessive Higgs pair production with little MET from squarks and gluinos in the NMSSM

TL;DR

This paper explores a novel search strategy for Higgs pair production in the NMSSM with low MET signatures, focusing on Higgs decay products to detect signals at the LHC despite reduced missing energy.

Contribution

It introduces benchmark scenarios with specific decay cascades in the NMSSM, proposing a new detection method based on Higgs decay signatures rather than MET.

Findings

Higgs pair signals can be identified via b-jet invariant mass peaks.

Reduced MET does not preclude detection of Higgs pairs in certain NMSSM scenarios.

Detection prospects depend on squark/gluino masses and integrated luminosity.

Abstract

In the presence of a light singlino-like LSP in the NMSSM, the missing transverse energy - MET - signature of squark/gluino production can be considerably reduced. Instead, a pair of Higgs bosons is produced in each event. We propose benchmark points for such scenarios, which differ in the squark and gluino masses, and in their decay cascades. Events for these points are simulated for the run II of the LHC at 13 TeV centre of mass energy. After cuts on the transverse momenta of at least four jets, and requiring two tau-leptons from one Higgs decay, we find that the invariant mass of two b-jets from the other Higgs decay shows clear peaks above the background. Despite the reduced MET, this search strategy allows to see signals for sufficiently large integrated luminosities, depending on the squark/gluino masses.