Search for a resonance decaying into a scalar particle and a Higgs boson in final states with leptons and two photons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt s=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for a heavy scalar particle decaying into a singlet scalar and a Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions, using ATLAS data, but finds no significant signal and sets upper limits on the production cross-section.

Contribution

First search for a heavy scalar decaying into a singlet scalar and a Higgs boson with detailed analysis of leptonic and photon final states at 13 TeV.

Findings

No significant excess observed over Standard Model background.

Upper limits on cross-section range from 120 to 530 fb at 95% CL.

Mass range explored: 300-1000 GeV for X, 170-500 GeV for S.

Abstract

A search for a hypothetical heavy scalar particle, $X$, decaying into a singlet scalar particle, $S$, and a Standard Model Higgs boson, $H$, using 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at the centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. The explored mass range is $300 \leq m_X \leq 1000$ GeV and $170 \leq m_S \leq 500$ GeV. The signature of this search is one or two leptons ($e$ or $\mu$) from the decay of vector bosons originating from the $S$ particle, $S \rightarrow W^{\pm}W^{\mp}/ZZ$, and two photons from the Higgs boson decay, $H\rightarrow \gamma\gamma$. No significant excess is observed above the expected Standard Model background. The observed (expected) upper limits at the 95% confidence level on the cross-section for $gg\rightarrow X\rightarrow SH$, assuming the same $S\rightarrow WW/ZZ$ branching ratios as for a SM-like heavy Higgs boson, are between 530 (800) fb and 120 (170) fb.