Search for resonances decaying into a weak vector boson and a Higgs boson in the fully hadronic final state produced in proton$-$proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper searches for heavy resonances decaying into a vector boson and a Higgs boson in fully hadronic final states using 13 TeV proton-proton collision data from the ATLAS detector, setting limits on new particle production.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis using substructure techniques on large-radius jets to improve sensitivity to heavy resonances decaying into vector and Higgs bosons.

Findings

No significant excess observed over background.

Upper limits set on cross sections for resonances between 1.5 and 5.0 TeV.

Constraints placed on Heavy Vector Triplet model parameters.

Abstract

A search for heavy resonances decaying into a $W$ or $Z$ boson and a Higgs boson produced in proton$-$proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV is presented. The analysis utilizes the dominant $W \to q \bar{q}^\prime$ or $Z \to q \bar{q}$ and $H \to b \bar{b}$ decays with substructure techniques applied to large-radius jets. A sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the ATLAS detector is analyzed and no significant excess of data is observed over the background prediction. The results are interpreted in the context of the Heavy Vector Triplet model with spin-1 $W^\prime$ and $Z^\prime$ bosons. Upper limits on the cross section are set for resonances with mass between 1.5 and 5.0 TeV, ranging from 6.8 to 0.53 fb for $W^\prime \to WH$ and from 8.7 to 0.53 fb for $Z^\prime \to ZH$ at the 95 % confidence level.