Exploring Sensitivity to NMSSM Signatures with Low Missing Transverse Energy at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper investigates NMSSM scenarios with low missing transverse energy at the LHC, focusing on specific decay chains that produce a four b-jet final state plus minimal missing energy, and assesses detection sensitivity.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of NMSSM scenarios with low missing energy signatures, highlighting their detectability with current LHC jet and missing energy searches.

Findings

Low $E_{T}^{miss}$ scenarios can evade standard searches

Hadronic $H\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ decays are promising signatures

Sensitivity depends on specific mass spectra and decay modes

Abstract

We examine scenarios in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), where pair-produced squarks and gluinos decay via two cascades, each ending in a stable neutralino as Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP) and a Standard Model (SM)-like Higgs boson, with mass spectra such that the missing transverse energy, $E_{T}^{\text{miss}}$, is very small. Performing two-dimensional parameter scans and focusing on the hadronic $H\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ decay giving a $b\bar{b}b\bar{b} + E_{T}^{\text{miss}}$ final state we explore the sensitivity of a current LHC general-purpose jets+$E_{T}^{\text{miss}}$ analysis to such scenarios.