# The NMSSM is within Reach of the LHC: Mass Correlations & Decay Signatures

## TL;DR

This paper shows that the NMSSM, a supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, can be effectively tested at the LHC by analyzing correlated Higgs and neutralino masses and decay channels, especially Higgs cascade signatures.

## Contribution

It introduces a simplified parameterization of the NMSSM Higgs sector and demonstrates how combined search strategies can probe its parameter space at the LHC.

## Key findings

- Correlated masses and couplings in the NMSSM Higgs sector can be described by four parameters.
- Higgs cascade decays are prominent and unique signatures of the NMSSM.
- Combining conventional and cascade decay searches enhances the LHC's sensitivity to NMSSM Higgs bosons below 1 TeV.

## Abstract

The Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), the singlet extension of the MSSM which fixes many of the MSSM's shortcomings, is shown to be within reach of the upcoming runs of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A systematic treatment of the various Higgs decay channels and their interplay has been lacking due to the seemingly large number of free parameters in the NMSSM's Higgs sector. We demonstrate that due to the SM-like nature of the observed Higgs boson, the NMSSM's Higgs and neutralino sectors have highly correlated masses and couplings and can effectively be described by four physically intuitive parameters: the physical masses of the two CP-odd states and their mixing angle, and $\tan\beta$, which plays a minor role. The heavy Higgs bosons in the NMSSM have large branching ratios into pairs of lighter Higgs bosons or a light Higgs and a $Z$ boson. Search channels arising via these Higgs cascades are unique to models like the NMSSM with a Higgs sector larger than that of the MSSM. In order to cover as much of the NMSSM parameter space as possible, one must combine conventional search strategies employing decays of the additional Higgs bosons into pairs of SM particles with Higgs cascade channels. We demonstrate that such a combination would allow a significant fraction of the viable NMSSM parameter space containing additional Higgs bosons with masses below 1 TeV to be probed at future runs of the LHC.