Probing the NMSSM via Higgs boson signatures from stop cascade decays at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of detecting light stop particles in the NMSSM at the 13 TeV LHC through Higgs signatures from cascade decays, using various search strategies and benchmark points.

Contribution

It evaluates the reach of stop mass detection up to 1.2 TeV at the LHC using Higgs signatures, considering multiple search techniques and benchmark scenarios.

Findings

Stop masses up to 1.2 TeV can be probed with 300 fb^{-1} in the di-lepton channel.

Jet-substructure techniques can probe stop masses up to 1 TeV.

Multiple Higgs peaks in fat-jet mass distribution are only observable at high luminosity.

Abstract

Higgs signatures from the cascade decays of light stops are an interesting possibility in the next to minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM). We investigate the potential reach of the light stop mass at the 13 TeV run of the LHC by means of five NMSSM benchmark points where this signature is dominant. These benchmark points are compatible with current Higgs coupling measurements, LHC constraints, dark matter relic density and direct detection constraints. We consider single and di-lepton search strategies, as well as the jet-substructure technique to reconstruct the Higgs bosons. We find that one can probe stop masses up to 1.2 TeV with 300 $\rm fb^{-1}$ luminosity via the di-lepton channel, while with the jet-substructure method, stop masses up to 1 TeV can be probed with 300 $\rm fb^{-1}$ luminosity. We also investigate the possibility of the appearance of multiple Higgs peaks over the background in the fat-jet mass distribution, and conclude that such a possibility is viable only at the high luminosity run of 13 TeV LHC.