Search for Dark Matter in Events with Missing Transverse Momentum and a Higgs Boson Decaying to Two Photons in $pp$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS Detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for dark matter in events with missing transverse momentum and a Higgs boson decaying to two photons, using 8 TeV proton-proton collision data from the ATLAS detector, setting limits on new physics models.

Contribution

First search for dark matter in events with a Higgs boson decaying to two photons and missing transverse momentum at 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector.

Findings

No significant excess over Standard Model backgrounds.

Upper limits set on cross sections for new physics models.

Exclusion limits established for dark-matter models.

Abstract

Results of a search for new phenomena in events with large missing transverse momentum and a Higgs boson decaying to two photons are reported. Data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ have been collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The observed data are well described by the expected Standard Model backgrounds. Upper limits on the cross section of events with large missing transverse momentum and a Higgs boson candidate are also placed. Exclusion limits are presented for models of physics beyond the Standard Model featuring dark-matter candidates.