Search for a massive scalar resonance decaying to a light scalar and a Higgs boson in the four b quarks final state with boosted topology

TL;DR

This paper searches for massive scalar particles decaying into a light scalar and a Higgs boson in four b-quark final states using boosted jet techniques at the LHC, setting new limits on production cross sections.

Contribution

It introduces a novel search strategy for scalar resonances decaying to a light scalar and Higgs boson in boosted topologies at 13 TeV LHC data.

Findings

Set 95% CL upper limits on cross sections between 0.1 and 150 fb.

Extended the mass range for X from 0.9 to 4 TeV and for Y from 60 to 600 GeV.

Improved sensitivity over previous searches in similar channels.

Abstract

We search for new massive scalar particles X and Y through the resonant process X $\to$ YH $\to$ $\mathrm{b\bar{b}b\bar{b}}$, where H is the standard model Higgs boson. Data from CERN LHC proton-proton collisions are used, collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2016-2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The search is performed in mass ranges of 0.9-4 TeV for X and 60-600 GeV for Y, where both Y and H are reconstructed as Lorentz-boosted single large-area jets. The results are interpreted in the context of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model and also in an extension of the standard model with two additional singlet scalar fields. The 95% confidence level upper limits for the production cross section vary between 0.1 and 150 fb depending on the X and Y masses, and represent a significant improvement over results from previous searches.