Dominant production of heavier Higgs bosons through vector boson fusion in NMSSM

TL;DR

This paper investigates the production of heavier Higgs bosons in the NMSSM, emphasizing vector boson fusion as a key process at the LHC, and assesses current and future collider sensitivities to these particles.

Contribution

It identifies vector boson fusion as the dominant production mechanism for singlet-like Higgs bosons in the NMSSM, contrasting with gluon-gluon fusion, and evaluates collider constraints and prospects.

Findings

Vector boson fusion can dominate Higgs production in NMSSM.

Current LHC data constrains the parameter space of these Higgs bosons.

Future colliders can significantly improve detection prospects.

Abstract

We study the features of the additional Higgs bosons in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model where the lightest beyond Standard Model Higgs boson does not dominantly couple to up-type quarks. The new state is dominantly singlet-like while it can also accommodate a small down-type Higgs component. The gluon-gluon fusion cannot be adequate enough for such a Higgs production. We show that the vector-boson fusion may become the leading production mechanism to probe this new scalar at the LHC. Using the existing 13 TeV LHC data for an integrated luminosity $36.1~fb^{-1}$, we show the LHC constraints on the parameter space. Finally, we also study the reach of the planned high luminosity LHC (${\mathcal L}=3~{\rm ab}^{-1}$ at $\sqrt s=$~14 TeV) and the proposed high energy upgrade of the LHC (${\mathcal L}=15~{\rm ab}^{-1}$ at $\sqrt s=$~27 TeV) to probe this singlet-like Higgs scalar.