Search for new physics in the low MET monophoton channel with the CMS Detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for new physics in low MET monophoton events at the LHC using CMS data, setting limits on exotic Higgs decays and providing model-independent constraints.

Contribution

It extends previous high-energy photon searches to lower energies and introduces new limits on exotic Higgs decays and generic signals in the monophoton channel.

Findings

No deviations from the standard model observed.

Limits set on exotic Higgs decay cross sections.

Model-independent constraints provided.

Abstract

With the recent discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the goals of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment are now focused on probing for new physics beyond the standard model. The final state consisting of a low transverse energy photon and low missing transverse energy (MET), also called the monophoton final state, can be used to constrain a variety of extensions of the standard model, including supersymmetry. I present a search for new physics in this low MET monophoton channel using 7.3/fb of 8 TeV pp collision data collected with the CMS detector. This analysis extends the high-energy single-photon searches to a lower energy regime. In the absence of deviations from the standard model predictions, limits are set on the production cross section of exotic decays of the Higgs boson. In addition, we present model independent limits for a generic signal in the monophoton final state.