Search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to $\gamma\gamma$ or $\tau^+\tau^-$ at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV

TL;DR

This study searches for dark matter produced alongside a Higgs boson decaying to photons or tau leptons at 13 TeV, setting new exclusion limits on certain theoretical models but finding no evidence of dark matter.

Contribution

First search for dark matter produced with a Higgs decaying to tau leptons, providing new constraints on simplified dark matter models at the LHC.

Findings

Excluded Z' masses up to 1265 GeV for certain models

Set upper limits on dark matter-nucleon cross sections

No significant excess observed over standard model background

Abstract

A search for dark matter particles is performed by looking for events with large transverse momentum imbalance and a recoiling Higgs boson decaying to either a pair of photons or a pair of $\tau$ leptons. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected at the CERN LHC in 2016 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. No significant excess over the expected standard model background is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are presented for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction in the context of two benchmark simplified models. For the Z'-two-Higgs-doublet model (where Z' is a new massive boson mediator) with an intermediate heavy pseudoscalar particle of mass $m_\mathrm{A} =$ 300 GeV and $m_\mathrm{DM} =$ 100 GeV, Z' masses from 550 GeV up to 1265 GeV are excluded. For a baryonic Z' model, with $m_\mathrm{DM} =$ 1 GeV, Z' masses up to 615 GeV are excluded. Results are also presented for the spin-independent cross section for the dark matter-nucleon interaction as a function of the mass of the dark matter particle. This is the first search for dark matter particles produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to two $\tau$ leptons.