Search for Higgs boson decays into a $Z$ boson and a light hadronically decaying resonance in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper searches for Higgs boson decays into a Z boson and a light hadronic resonance using ATLAS data, setting upper limits on the decay rate and coupling for various light particles, with no significant signal found.

Contribution

First search for Higgs decays into a Z boson and a light resonance in the 0.5-3.5 GeV range using advanced neural network techniques.

Findings

No significant excess observed over background.

Upper limits set on Higgs decay branching fraction (~10%).

Constraints placed on axion-like particle couplings.

Abstract

A search for decays of the Higgs boson into a $Z$ boson and a light resonance, with a mass of 0.5-3.5 GeV, is performed using the full 140 fb$^{-1}$ dataset of 13 TeV proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the LHC. Leptonic decays of the $Z$ boson and hadronic decays of the light resonance are considered. The resonance can be interpreted as a $J/\psi$ or $\eta_c$ meson, an axion-like particle, or a light pseudoscalar in two-Higgs-doublet models. Due to its low mass, it would be produced with high boost and reconstructed as a single small-radius jet of hadrons. A neural network is used to correct the Monte Carlo simulation of the background in a data-driven way. Two additional neural networks are used to distinguish signal from background. A binned profile-likelihood fit is performed on the final-state invariant mass distribution. No significant excess of events relative to the expected background is observed, and upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the Higgs boson's branching fraction to a $Z$ boson and a light resonance. The exclusion limit is ~10% for the lower masses, and increases for higher masses. Upper limits on the effective coupling $C^\text{eff}_{ZH}/\Lambda$ of an axion-like particle to a Higgs boson and $Z$ boson are also set at 95% confidence level, and range from 0.9 to 2 TeV$^{-1}$.