Status and discovery prospects for light pseudoscalars in the NMSSM

TL;DR

This paper examines the potential for discovering light pseudoscalars in the NMSSM at the LHC, highlighting current constraints and future prospects for detection through Higgs decay channels.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of the parameter space for light pseudoscalars in the NMSSM considering recent LHC search results, emphasizing the near-future impact of these searches.

Findings

Current searches are approaching the allowed parameter space.

Direct searches are not yet competitive with SM-like Higgs couplings.

Future searches are likely to significantly impact the parameter space.

Abstract

While most BSM searches at the LHC focus on heavy new states, the NMSSM contains the possibility of new light states that have escaped detection due to their singlet nature. Here we focus on light pseudoscalars, investigating the parameter space impact of recent LHC searches for such light states stemming from the decay of the 125 GeV Higgs boson. It is shown that, though direct searches can not yet compete with the requirement of the 125 GeV scalar having SM-like couplings, the searches are touching the allowed parameter space and should make a phenomenological impact in the near future.