Search for a charged Higgs boson in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for charged Higgs bosons in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV, setting upper limits on production rates and excluding certain parameter regions in the MSSM model.

Contribution

First comprehensive search for charged Higgs bosons at 8 TeV with multiple decay modes and final states, providing new exclusion limits in the MSSM parameter space.

Findings

No signal observed for charged Higgs bosons.

Set upper limits on production cross sections and branching fractions.

Excluded regions in the MSSM parameter space.

Abstract

A search for a charged Higgs boson is performed with a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 +/- 0.5 inverse femtobarns collected with the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. The charged Higgs boson is searched for in top quark decays for m(H+/-) < m(t) - m(b), and in the direct production pp -> t (b) H+/- for m(H+/-) > m(t) - m(b). The H+/- -> tau+/- nu[tau] and H+/- -> t b decay modes in the final states tau[h]+jets, mu tau[h], l+jets, and ll' (l = e, mu) are considered in the search. No signal is observed and 95% confidence level upper limits are set on the charged Higgs boson production. A model-independent upper limit on the product branching fraction B( t -> H+/- b ) B( H+/- -> tau+/- nu[tau] )= 1.2-0.15% is obtained in the mass range m(H+/-) = 80-160 GeV, while the upper limit on the cross section times branching fraction sigma( pp -> t (b) H+/- ) B( H+/- -> tau+/- nu[tau] ) = 0.38-0.025 pb is set in the mass range m(H+/-) = 180-600 GeV. Here, cross section sigma( pp -> t (b) H+/- ) stands for the sum sigma( pp -> t-bar (b) H+ ) + sigma( pp -> t (b-bar) H- ). Assuming B( H+/- -> t b ) = 1, an upper limit on sigma ( pp -> t (b) H+/- ) of 2.0-0.13 pb is set for m(H+/-) = 180-600 GeV. The combination of all considered decay modes and final states is used to set exclusion limits in the m(H+/-)-tan(beta) parameter space in different MSSM benchmark scenarios.