Searches for the $Z\gamma$ decay mode of the Higgs boson and for new high-mass resonances in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper reports on searches for the Higgs boson decay to Z gamma and for new high-mass resonances decaying to Z gamma using ATLAS data, setting upper limits on production cross sections and branching ratios.

Contribution

First search for Higgs to Z gamma decay and high-mass Z gamma resonances at 13 TeV with ATLAS, providing new upper limits on their production rates.

Findings

No significant excess observed over Standard Model background.

Upper limits set on Higgs to Z gamma decay rate at 6.6 times the SM prediction.

Constraints on high-mass resonance production cross sections between 250 GeV and 2.4 TeV.

Abstract

This article presents searches for the $Z\gamma$ decay of the Higgs boson and for narrow high-mass resonances decaying to $Z\gamma$, exploiting $Z$ boson decays to pairs of electrons or muons. The data analysis uses 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model background. The observed (expected - assuming Standard Model $pp\to H\to Z\gamma$ production and decay) upper limit on the production cross section times the branching ratio for $pp\to H\to Z\gamma$ is 6.6 (5.2) times the Standard Model prediction at the 95% confidence level for a Higgs boson mass of 125.09 GeV. In addition, upper limits are set on the production cross section times the branching ratio as a function of the mass of a narrow resonance between 250 GeV and 2.4 TeV, assuming spin-0 resonances produced via gluon-gluon fusion, and spin-2 resonances produced via gluon-gluon or quark-antiquark initial states. For high-mass spin-0 resonances, the observed (expected) limits vary between 88 fb (61 fb) and 2.8 fb (2.7 fb) for the mass range from 250 GeV to 2.4 TeV at the 95% confidence level.