Compact Muon Solenoid
LHC, CERN
Visit us: CMS Public Website, CMS Physics ;
Contact us: CMS Publications Committee
| CMS-B2G-25-004 ; CERN-EP-2026-149 | ||
| Study of ZZ and ZH production in the $ \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ final state and search for high-mass spin-0 and spin-1 resonances in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | ||
| CMS Collaboration | ||
| 1 July 2026 | ||
| Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics | ||
| Abstract: A study of the production of pairs of Z bosons (ZZ) and of the associated production of a Z boson and a Higgs boson (ZH) in final states containing two b quarks and two tau leptons ($ \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $) is presented. The analysis is based on proton-proton collisions collected at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$ ^{-1} $. The nonresonant analysis targets the standard model ZZ and ZH processes in the $ \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ final state, motivated by the prominent role of this channel in searches for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production. The resonant searches target physics beyond the standard model, probing heavy spin-0 resonances $ \mathrm{X} $ that decay into ZZ and spin-1 resonances $ \mathrm{Z}^{'} $ that decay into ZH, with masses in the 0.2-5 and 0.5-6 TeV ranges, respectively. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of production rate and branching fraction $ \sigma(\mathrm{X})\mathcal{B}(\mathrm{X}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z}) $, ranging from 300 pb to 24 fb, and $ \sigma(\mathrm{Z}^{'})\mathcal{B}(\mathrm{Z}^{'}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H}) $, ranging from 0.4 pb to 12 fb. These are the first measurements to probe the $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} / \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ processes. No deviation from standard model expectations is observed. | ||
| Links: e-print arXiv:2607.01589 [hep-ex] (PDF) ; CDS record ; inSPIRE record ; HepData record ; CADI line (restricted) ; | ||
| Figures | |
png pdf |
Figure 1:
Illustrative diagrams describing the production of a high-mass resonance: a spin-0 resonance $ \mathrm{X}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} $ (left) and a spin-1 resonance $ \mathrm{Z}^{'}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} $ (right). |
png pdf |
Figure 1-a:
Illustrative diagrams describing the production of a high-mass resonance: a spin-0 resonance $ \mathrm{X}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} $ (left) and a spin-1 resonance $ \mathrm{Z}^{'}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} $ (right). |
png pdf |
Figure 1-b:
Illustrative diagrams describing the production of a high-mass resonance: a spin-0 resonance $ \mathrm{X}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} $ (left) and a spin-1 resonance $ \mathrm{Z}^{'}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} $ (right). |
png pdf |
Figure 2:
Distributions in the ($ m_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}},m_{\tau\tau}^{{FastMTT} } $) plane for the SM ZZ (left) and ZH (right) signals, and for the sum of all simulated backgrounds (blue). The corresponding one-dimensional projections are also shown. The distributions are normalized to unity after the $ \tau\tau $ and $ \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b} $ candidate selections have been applied. The colored curves indicate the elliptical mass selection, and the black line in the right panel marks the boundary between the regions targeting each of the two ZH processes. |
png pdf |
Figure 2-a:
Distributions in the ($ m_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}},m_{\tau\tau}^{{FastMTT} } $) plane for the SM ZZ (left) and ZH (right) signals, and for the sum of all simulated backgrounds (blue). The corresponding one-dimensional projections are also shown. The distributions are normalized to unity after the $ \tau\tau $ and $ \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b} $ candidate selections have been applied. The colored curves indicate the elliptical mass selection, and the black line in the right panel marks the boundary between the regions targeting each of the two ZH processes. |
png pdf |
Figure 2-b:
Distributions in the ($ m_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}},m_{\tau\tau}^{{FastMTT} } $) plane for the SM ZZ (left) and ZH (right) signals, and for the sum of all simulated backgrounds (blue). The corresponding one-dimensional projections are also shown. The distributions are normalized to unity after the $ \tau\tau $ and $ \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b} $ candidate selections have been applied. The colored curves indicate the elliptical mass selection, and the black line in the right panel marks the boundary between the regions targeting each of the two ZH processes. |
png pdf |
Figure 3:
Distribution of the invariant mass of the ZZ system, in the resolved 2b category of the $ \tau_{\mu} \tau_\mathrm{h} $ channel. The four-momentum of the $ \tau\tau $ system is reconstructed using FASTMTT. The SM $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ signal, as well as the resonant $ \mathrm{X}\to{\mathrm{Z}}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}}{\mathrm{Z}}_{\tau\tau} $ signal for $ m_\mathrm{X}= $ 400 GeV, are overlaid, scaled for visibility. The lower panel shows the ratio of the data to the total SM prediction. |
png pdf |
Figure 4:
Distribution of the nonresonant DNN used for $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ signal extraction in a validation region defined by inverting the elliptical mass selections described in Section 5.3, for the resolved-1/2b categories in the $ \tau_{\mu} \tau_\mathrm{h} $ channel. The lower panel shows the ratio of the data to the total SM prediction. |
png pdf |
Figure 5:
Distributions of the output of the DNN used for SM $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ signal extraction. The lower panel shows the ratio of the data to the background prediction with uncertainties from a background-only fit to the observed data. The ZZ signal is scaled to its SM cross section. |
png pdf |
Figure 6:
Distributions of the output of the DNN used for SM $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ signal extraction. Upper: $ \mathrm{Z}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}}{\mathrm{H}}_{\tau\tau} $ signal region. Lower: $ \mathrm{Z}_{\tau\tau}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}} $ signal region. The lower panels show the ratio of the data to the background prediction with uncertainties from a background-only fit to the observed data. |
png pdf |
Figure 6-a:
Distributions of the output of the DNN used for SM $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ signal extraction. Upper: $ \mathrm{Z}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}}{\mathrm{H}}_{\tau\tau} $ signal region. Lower: $ \mathrm{Z}_{\tau\tau}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}} $ signal region. The lower panels show the ratio of the data to the background prediction with uncertainties from a background-only fit to the observed data. |
png pdf |
Figure 6-b:
Distributions of the output of the DNN used for SM $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ signal extraction. Upper: $ \mathrm{Z}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}}{\mathrm{H}}_{\tau\tau} $ signal region. Lower: $ \mathrm{Z}_{\tau\tau}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}} $ signal region. The lower panels show the ratio of the data to the background prediction with uncertainties from a background-only fit to the observed data. |
png pdf |
Figure 7:
Example distributions of the output of the resonant DNN used for signal extraction. Upper: $ \mathrm{X}\to{\mathrm{Z}}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}}{\mathrm{Z}}_{\tau\tau} $ with $ m_\mathrm{X}= $ 800 GeV. Lower: $ \mathrm{Z}^{'}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} $ with $ m_\mathrm{Z}^{'}= $ 3 TeV, showing the $ \mathrm{Z}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}}{\mathrm{H}}_{\tau\tau} $ and $ \mathrm{Z}_{\tau\tau}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}} $ signal regions in the left and right parts, respectively. The lower panels show the ratio of the data to the SM prediction with uncertainties from a background-only fit to the observed data. |
png pdf |
Figure 7-a:
Example distributions of the output of the resonant DNN used for signal extraction. Upper: $ \mathrm{X}\to{\mathrm{Z}}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}}{\mathrm{Z}}_{\tau\tau} $ with $ m_\mathrm{X}= $ 800 GeV. Lower: $ \mathrm{Z}^{'}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} $ with $ m_\mathrm{Z}^{'}= $ 3 TeV, showing the $ \mathrm{Z}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}}{\mathrm{H}}_{\tau\tau} $ and $ \mathrm{Z}_{\tau\tau}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}} $ signal regions in the left and right parts, respectively. The lower panels show the ratio of the data to the SM prediction with uncertainties from a background-only fit to the observed data. |
png pdf |
Figure 7-b:
Example distributions of the output of the resonant DNN used for signal extraction. Upper: $ \mathrm{X}\to{\mathrm{Z}}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}}{\mathrm{Z}}_{\tau\tau} $ with $ m_\mathrm{X}= $ 800 GeV. Lower: $ \mathrm{Z}^{'}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} $ with $ m_\mathrm{Z}^{'}= $ 3 TeV, showing the $ \mathrm{Z}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}}{\mathrm{H}}_{\tau\tau} $ and $ \mathrm{Z}_{\tau\tau}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}} $ signal regions in the left and right parts, respectively. The lower panels show the ratio of the data to the SM prediction with uncertainties from a background-only fit to the observed data. |
png pdf |
Figure 8:
Results for the SM $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ and $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ processes. Left: best fit signal strengths and approximate 68% CL intervals, obtained from a profile likelihood fit, as described in Ref. [104]. Right: upper limits at 95% CL on the ratio of production cross section and the SM expectation for the ZZ and ZH processes, as well as those from the $ \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H}\to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ analysis on the same data set for comparison [40]. |
png pdf |
Figure 8-a:
Results for the SM $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ and $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ processes. Left: best fit signal strengths and approximate 68% CL intervals, obtained from a profile likelihood fit, as described in Ref. [104]. Right: upper limits at 95% CL on the ratio of production cross section and the SM expectation for the ZZ and ZH processes, as well as those from the $ \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H}\to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ analysis on the same data set for comparison [40]. |
png pdf |
Figure 8-b:
Results for the SM $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ and $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ processes. Left: best fit signal strengths and approximate 68% CL intervals, obtained from a profile likelihood fit, as described in Ref. [104]. Right: upper limits at 95% CL on the ratio of production cross section and the SM expectation for the ZZ and ZH processes, as well as those from the $ \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H}\to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ analysis on the same data set for comparison [40]. |
png pdf |
Figure 9:
Projected significance [111] for SM $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ and $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ processes as a function of integrated luminosity at the HL-LHC with the CMS Phase 2 detector upgrade [66]. Two scenarios for systematic uncertainties are shown: the S2 scenario assumes reduced systematic uncertainties, as described in Ref. [7], and the second scenario neglects systematic uncertainties. Projections for $ \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H}\to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ from Ref. [7] are also shown for comparison. The thresholds required for evidence (3 $ \sigma $) and observation (5 $ \sigma $) are indicated. |
png pdf |
Figure 10:
Upper limits on the production cross section for the $ \mathrm{X}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} $ process (left, spin-0 resonance) and the $ \mathrm{Z}^{'}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} $ process (right, spin-1 resonance), obtained under the narrow-width approximation. |
png pdf |
Figure 10-a:
Upper limits on the production cross section for the $ \mathrm{X}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} $ process (left, spin-0 resonance) and the $ \mathrm{Z}^{'}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} $ process (right, spin-1 resonance), obtained under the narrow-width approximation. |
png pdf |
Figure 10-b:
Upper limits on the production cross section for the $ \mathrm{X}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} $ process (left, spin-0 resonance) and the $ \mathrm{Z}^{'}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} $ process (right, spin-1 resonance), obtained under the narrow-width approximation. |
| Tables | |
png pdf |
Table 1:
Summary of selections applied to the $ \tau\tau $ candidate pair |
| Summary |
| A study of ZZ and ZH production in the $ \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ final state has been presented based on proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$ ^{-1} $. Both nonresonant and resonant production mechanisms are investigated. In the nonresonant interpretation, the production of $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ and $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ is studied, and the results are found consistent with standard model predictions. Projections of the sensitivity of the ZZ and ZH measurements that could be achieved at the high-luminosity LHC are presented. These projections indicate that the $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ production is expected to reach the observation threshold earlier than that of the $ \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H}\to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ search, demonstrating for the first time the use of the $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ process as a standard candle to assess the analysis methods for the HH search in the $ \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ final state. In the resonant interpretation, searches are performed for heavy spin-0 resonances that decay into ZZ and for spin-1 resonances that decay into ZH, with resonance masses between 200 GeV and 6 TeV. No evidence for a signal is observed, and upper limits are set on the production cross sections. These are the first measurements to probe the $ \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{Z} / \mathrm{Z}\mathrm{H} \to \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ processes. |
| References | ||||
| 1 | ATLAS Collaboration | Observation of a new particle in the search for the standard model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC | PLB 716 (2012) 1 | 1207.7214 |
| 2 | CMS Collaboration | Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC | PLB 716 (2012) 30 | CMS-HIG-12-028 1207.7235 |
| 3 | CMS Collaboration | Observation of a new boson with mass near 125 GeV in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 7 and 8 TeV | JHEP 06 (2013) 081 | CMS-HIG-12-036 1303.4571 |
| 4 | CMS Collaboration | A portrait of the Higgs boson by the CMS experiment ten years after the discovery | Nature 607 (2022) 60 | CMS-HIG-22-001 2207.00043 |
| 5 | M. Cepeda et al. | Report from working group 2: Higgs physics at the HL-LHC and HE-LHC | CERN Yellow Rep. Monogr., 2019 link |
1902.00134 |
| 6 | CMS Collaboration | Combination of searches for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | Submitted to J. Phys. G, 2025 | CMS-HIG-20-011 2510.07527 |
| 7 | ATLAS and CMS Collaborations | Highlights of the HL-LHC physics projections by ATLAS and CMS | link | 2504.00672 |
| 8 | CMS Collaboration | Measurements of pp $\to$ ZZ production cross sections and constraints on anomalous triple gauge couplings at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV | EPJC 81 (2021) 200 | CMS-SMP-19-001 2009.01186 |
| 9 | ATLAS Collaboration | Measurements of differential cross-sections in four-lepton events in 13 TeV proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector | JHEP 07 (2021) 005 | 2103.01918 |
| 10 | ATLAS Collaboration | Measurement of ZZ production cross-sections in the four-lepton final state in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13.6 TeV with the ATLAS experiment | PLB 855 (2024) 138764 | 2311.09715 |
| 11 | CMS Collaboration | Measurement of simplified template cross sections of the Higgs boson produced in association with W or Z bosons in the \HepProcessH\to$ \mathrm{b} \overline{\mathrm{b}} $ decay channel in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | PRD 109 (2024) 092011 | CMS-HIG-20-001 2312.07562 |
| 12 | CMS Collaboration | Search for ZZ and ZH production in the $ \mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}} $ final state using proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | EPJC 84 (2024) 712 | CMS-HIG-22-011 2403.20241 |
| 13 | T. Binoth and J. J. van der Bij | Influence of strongly coupled, hidden scalars on Higgs signals | Z. Phys. C 75 (1997) 17 | hep-ph/9608245 |
| 14 | R. M. Schabinger and J. D. Wells | A minimal spontaneously broken hidden sector and its impact on Higgs boson physics at the large hadron collider | PRD 72 (2005) 093007 | hep-ph/0509209 |
| 15 | B. Patt and F. Wilczek | Higgs-field portal into hidden sectors | link | hep-ph/0605188 |
| 16 | G. C. Branco et al. | Theory and phenomenology of two-Higgs-doublet models | Phys. Rept. 516 (2012) 1 | 1106.0034 |
| 17 | D. Pappadopulo, A. Thamm, R. Torre, and A. Wulzer | Heavy vector triplets: Bridging theory and data | JHEP 09 (2014) 060 | 1402.4431 |
| 18 | P. Fayet | Supergauge invariant extension of the Higgs mechanism and a model for the electron and its neutrino | NPB 90 (1975) 104 | |
| 19 | P. Fayet | Spontaneously broken supersymmetric theories of weak, electromagnetic and strong interactions | PLB 69 (1977) 489 | |
| 20 | K. Agashe, H. Davoudiasl, G. Perez, and A. Soni | Warped gravitons at the LHC and beyond | PRD 76 (2007) 036006 | hep-ph/0701186 |
| 21 | A. L. Fitzpatrick, J. Kaplan, L. Randall, and L.-T. Wang | Searching for the Kaluza-Klein graviton in Bulk RS models | JHEP 09 (2007) 013 | hep-ph/0701150 |
| 22 | ATLAS Collaboration | Search for heavy resonances decaying into a pair of Z bosons in the $ \ell^{+} \ell^{-} \ell{'}^{+} \ell{'}^{-}$ and $ \ell^{+} \ell^{-} nu\overline{\nu} $ final states using 139 fb$ ^{-1} $ of proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector | EPJC 81 (2021) 332 | 2009.14791 |
| 23 | CMS Collaboration | Search for a new scalar resonance decaying to a pair of Z bosons in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | JHEP 06 (2018) 127 | CMS-HIG-17-012 1804.01939 |
| 24 | ATLAS Collaboration | Search for heavy diboson resonances in semileptonic final states in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector | EPJC 80 (2020) 1165 | 2004.14636 |
| 25 | CMS Collaboration | Search for heavy resonances decaying to ZZ or ZW and axion-like particles mediating nonresonant ZZ or ZH production at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV | JHEP 04 (2022) 087 | 2111.13669 |
| 26 | CMS Collaboration | Search for heavy resonances decaying to $ \mathrm{Z}(\nu\overline{\nu})\mathrm{V}(\mathrm{q}{\overline{\mathrm{q}}}{\prime}) $ in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV | PRD 106 (2022) 012004 | 2109.08268 |
| 27 | ATLAS Collaboration | Search for diboson resonances in hadronic final states in 139 fb$ ^{-1} $ of pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector | JHEP 09 (2019) 091 | 1906.08589 |
| 28 | CMS Collaboration | Search for new heavy resonances decaying to WW, WZ, ZZ, WH, or ZH boson pairs in the all-jets final state in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | PLB 844 (2023) 137813 | 2210.00043 |
| 29 | CMS Collaboration | Search for narrow high-mass resonances in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 8 TeV decaying to a Z and a Higgs boson | PLB 748 (2015) 255 | CMS-EXO-13-007 1502.04994 |
| 30 | CMS Collaboration | Search for heavy resonances decaying into two Higgs bosons or into a Higgs boson and a W or Z boson in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV | JHEP 01 (2019) 051 | 1808.01365 |
| 31 | ATLAS Collaboration | 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 | PRD 102 (2020) 112008 | 2007.05293 |
| 32 | ATLAS Collaboration | Study of high-transverse-momentum Higgs boson production in association with a vector boson in the $ \mathrm{q}\mathrm{q}\mathrm{b}\mathrm{b} $ final state with the ATLAS detector | PRL 132 (2024) 131802 | 2312.07605 |
| 33 | ATLAS Collaboration | Search for heavy resonances decaying into a Z or W boson and a Higgs boson in final states with leptons and b-jets in 139 fb$ ^{-1} $ of pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector | JHEP 06 (2023) 016 | 2207.00230 |
| 34 | CMS Collaboration | Search for a heavy resonance decaying into a Z and a Higgs boson in events with an energetic jet and two electrons, two muons, or missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | JHEP 02 (2025) 089 | 2411.00202 |
| 35 | M. Abdullah et al. | A heavy neutral gauge boson near the Z boson mass pole via third generation fermions at the LHC | PLB 803 (2020) 135326 | 1912.00102 |
| 36 | ATLAS Collaboration | Search for resonant and non-resonant Higgs boson pair production in the $ \mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}\tau^{+}\tau^{-} $ decay channel using 13 TeV pp collision data from the ATLAS detector | JHEP 07 (2023) 40 | 2209.10910 |
| 37 | ATLAS Collaboration | Reconstruction and identification of boosted di-$ \tau $ systems in a search for Higgs boson pairs using 13 TeV proton-proton collision data in ATLAS | JHEP 11 (2020) 163 | 2007.14811 |
| 38 | CMS Collaboration | Search for Higgs boson pair production in events with two bottom quarks and two tau leptons in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | PLB 778 (2018) 101 | CMS-HIG-17-002 1707.02909 |
| 39 | CMS Collaboration | Search for heavy resonances decaying into two Higgs bosons in the $ \mathrm{b}\mathrm{b}\tau\tau $ final state in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV | Accepted by Eur. Phys. J. C, 2026 | 2601.20011 |
| 40 | CMS Collaboration | Search for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in final state with two bottom quarks and two tau leptons in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV | PLB 842 (2023) 137531 | CMS-HIG-20-010 2206.09401 |
| 41 | LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group | Handbook of LHC Higgs cross sections: 4. Deciphering the nature of the Higgs sector | CERN Report CERN-2017-002-M, 2016 link |
1610.07922 |
| 42 | CMS Collaboration | HEPData record for this analysis | link | |
| 43 | CMS Collaboration | The CMS experiment at the CERN LHC | JINST 3 (2008) S08004 | |
| 44 | CMS Collaboration | Development of the CMS detector for the CERN LHC Run 3 | JINST 19 (2024) P05064 | CMS-PRF-21-001 2309.05466 |
| 45 | CMS Collaboration | Performance of the CMS Level-1 trigger in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV | JINST 15 (2020) P10017 | CMS-TRG-17-001 2006.10165 |
| 46 | CMS Collaboration | The CMS trigger system | JINST 12 (2017) P01020 | CMS-TRG-12-001 1609.02366 |
| 47 | CMS Collaboration | Performance of the CMS high-level trigger during LHC Run 2 | JINST 19 (2024) P11021 | CMS-TRG-19-001 2410.17038 |
| 48 | CMS Collaboration | Electron and photon reconstruction and identification with the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC | JINST 16 (2021) P05014 | CMS-EGM-17-001 2012.06888 |
| 49 | CMS Collaboration | Performance of the CMS muon detector and muon reconstruction with proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | JINST 13 (2018) P06015 | CMS-MUO-16-001 1804.04528 |
| 50 | CMS Collaboration | Description and performance of track and primary-vertex reconstruction with the CMS tracker | JINST 9 (2014) P10009 | CMS-TRK-11-001 1405.6569 |
| 51 | J. Alwall et al. | The automated computation of tree-level and next-to-leading order differential cross sections, and their matching to parton shower simulations | JHEP 07 (2014) 79 | 1405.0301 |
| 52 | F. Cascioli et al. | ZZ production at hadron colliders in NNLO QCD | PLB 735 (2014) 311 | 1405.2219 |
| 53 | P. Nason | A new method for combining NLO QCD with shower Monte Carlo algorithms | JHEP 11 (2004) 040 | hep-ph/0409146 |
| 54 | S. Frixione, P. Nason, and C. Oleari | Matching NLO QCD computations with parton shower simulations: the POWHEG method | JHEP 11 (2007) 070 | 0709.2092 |
| 55 | S. Alioli, P. Nason, C. Oleari, and E. Re | A general framework for implementing NLO calculations in shower Monte Carlo programs: the POWHEG BOX | JHEP 06 (2010) 043 | 1002.2581 |
| 56 | F. Granata, J. M. Lindert, C. Oleari, and S. Pozzorini | NLO QCD+EW predictions for HV and HV+jet production including parton-shower effects | JHEP 09 (2017) 012 | 1706.03522 |
| 57 | E. Bagnaschi, G. Degrassi, P. Slavich, and A. Vicini | Higgs production via gluon fusion in the POWHEG approach in the SM and in the MSSM | JHEP 02 (2012) 088 | 1111.2854 |
| 58 | S. Frixione, P. Nason, and G. Ridolfi | A positive-weight next-to-leading-order Monte Carlo for heavy flavour hadroproduction | JHEP 09 (2007) 126 | 0707.3088 |
| 59 | R. Frederix and S. Frixione | Merging meets matching in MC@NLO | JHEP 12 (2012) 61 | 1209.6215 |
| 60 | J. Alwall et al. | Comparative study of various algorithms for the merging of parton showers and matrix elements in hadronic collisions | EPJC 53 (2007) 473 | 0706.2569 |
| 61 | T. Sjöstrand et al. | An introduction to PYTHIA 8.2 | Comp. Phys. Commun. 191 (2015) 159 | 1410.3012 |
| 62 | CMS Collaboration | Extraction and validation of a new set of CMS PYTHIA8 tunes from underlying-event measurements | EPJC 80 (2020) 4 | CMS-GEN-17-001 1903.12179 |
| 63 | NNPDF Collaboration | Parton distributions from high-precision collider data | EPJC 77 (2017) 663 | 1706.00428 |
| 64 | GEANT4 Collaboration | GEANT4---a simulation toolkit | NIM A 506 (2003) 250 | |
| 65 | CMS Collaboration | Particle-flow reconstruction and global event description with the CMS detector | JINST 12 (2017) P10003 | CMS-PRF-14-001 1706.04965 |
| 66 | CMS Collaboration | Technical proposal for the Phase-II upgrade of the Compact Muon Solenoid | CMS Technical Proposal CERN-LHCC-2015-010, CMS-TDR-15-02, 2015 link |
|
| 67 | CMS Collaboration | ECAL 2016 refined calibration and Run2 summary plots | CMS Detector Performance Summary CMS-DP-2020-021, 2020 CDS |
|
| 68 | M. Cacciari, G. P. Salam, and G. Soyez | The anti-$ k_{\mathrm{T}} $ jet clustering algorithm | JHEP 04 (2008) 063 | 0802.1189 |
| 69 | M. Cacciari, G. P. Salam, and G. Soyez | FastJet user manual | EPJC 72 (2012) 1896 | 1111.6097 |
| 70 | CMS Collaboration | Pileup mitigation at CMS in $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV data | JINST 15 (2020) P09018 | CMS-JME-18-001 2003.00503 |
| 71 | D. Bertolini, P. Harris, M. Low, and N. Tran | Pileup per particle identification | JHEP 10 (2014) 059 | 1407.6013 |
| 72 | CMS Collaboration | Jet energy scale and resolution in the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 8 TeV | JINST 12 (2017) P02014 | CMS-JME-13-004 1607.03663 |
| 73 | CMS Collaboration | Jet energy scale and resolution measurement with Run-2 legacy data collected by CMS at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | CMS Detector Performance Summary CMS-DP-2021-033, 2021 CDS |
|
| 74 | CMS Collaboration | Performance of missing transverse momentum reconstruction in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV using the CMS detector | JINST 14 (2019) P07004 | CMS-JME-17-001 1903.06078 |
| 75 | E. Bols et al. | Jet flavour classification using DeepJet | JINST 15 (2020) P12012 | 2008.10519 |
| 76 | CMS Collaboration | Performance summary of AK4 jet b tagging with data from proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV with the CMS detector | CMS Detector Performance Summary CMS-DP-2023-005, 2023 CDS |
|
| 77 | CMS Collaboration | Identification of heavy-flavour jets with the CMS detector in pp collisions at 13 TeV | JINST 13 (2018) P05011 | CMS-BTV-16-002 1712.07158 |
| 78 | H. Qu and L. Gouskos | Jet tagging via particle clouds | PRD 101 (2020) 056019 | 1902.08570 |
| 79 | CMS Collaboration | Performance of heavy-flavour jet identification in Lorentz-boosted topologies in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV | JINST 20 (2025) P11006 | CMS-BTV-22-001 2510.10228 |
| 80 | Y. L. Dokshitzer, G. D. Leder, S. Moretti, and B. R. Webber | Better jet clustering algorithms | JHEP 08 (1997) 001 | hep-ph/9707323 |
| 81 | M. Wobisch and T. Wengler | Hadronization corrections to jet cross-sections in deep inelastic scattering | in Proceedings of the Workshop on Monte Carlo Generators for HERA Physics, Hamburg, Germany, 1998 link |
hep-ph/9907280 |
| 82 | M. Dasgupta, A. Fregoso, S. Marzani, and G. P. Salam | Towards an understanding of jet substructure | JHEP 09 (2013) 029 | 1307.0007 |
| 83 | J. M. Butterworth, A. R. Davison, M. Rubin, and G. P. Salam | Jet substructure as a new Higgs search channel at the LHC | PRL 100 (2008) 242001 | 0802.2470 |
| 84 | CMS Collaboration | Performance of reconstruction and identification of $ \tau $ leptons decaying to hadrons and $ \nu_{\!\tau} $ in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | JINST 13 (2018) P10005 | CMS-TAU-16-003 1809.02816 |
| 85 | CMS Collaboration | Measurement of the production cross section of a Higgs boson with large transverse momentum in its decays to a pair of $ \tau $ leptons in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | PLB 857 (2024) 138964 | CMS-HIG-21-017 2403.20201 |
| 86 | CMS Collaboration | Identification of hadronic tau lepton decays using a deep neural network | JINST 17 (2022) P07023 | CMS-TAU-20-001 2201.08458 |
| 87 | CMS Collaboration | Performance of boosted tau lepton identification with DeepTau framework (Boosted DeepTau) | CMS Detector Performance Summary CMS-DP-2025-047, 2025 CDS |
|
| 88 | CMS Collaboration | Performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | JINST 19 (2024) P09004 | CMS-EGM-18-002 2403.15518 |
| 89 | A. Kalinowski and W. Matyszkiewicz | Efficient tau-pair invariant mass reconstruction with simplified matrix element techniques | NIM A 1086 (2026) 171318 | 2509.26069 |
| 90 | R. K. Ellis, I. Hinchliffe, M. Soldate, and J. J. van der Bij | Higgs decay to $ \tau\tau $: A possible signature of intermediate mass Higgs bosons at high energy hadron colliders | NPB 297 (1988) 221 | |
| 91 | A. J. Larkoski, S. Marzani, G. Soyez, and J. Thaler | Soft drop | JHEP 05 (2014) 146 | 1402.2657 |
| 92 | P. Baldi et al. | Parameterized neural networks for high-energy physics | EPJC 76 (2016) 235 | 1601.07913 |
| 93 | F. Rosenblatt | The perceptron: a probabilistic model for information storage and organization in the brain | Psychol. Rev. 65 (1958) 386 | |
| 94 | S. Linnainmaa | Taylor expansion of the accumulated rounding error | BIT Numer. Math. 16 (1976) 146 | |
| 95 | P. J. Werbos | Applications of advances in nonlinear sensitivity analysis | in th IFIP Conf. on System Modeling and Optimization, Springer, 1981 Proc. 1 (1981) 762 |
|
| 96 | D. E. Rumelhart , G. E. Hinton , and R. J. Williams | Learning representations by back-propagating errors | Nature 323 (1986) 533 | |
| 97 | CMS Collaboration | Precision luminosity measurement in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016 at CMS | EPJC 81 (2021) 800 | CMS-LUM-17-003 2104.01927 |
| 98 | CMS Collaboration | Precision luminosity measurement in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV with the CMS detector | CMS Physics Analysis Summary, 2025 CMS-PAS-LUM-20-001 |
CMS-PAS-LUM-20-001 |
| 99 | CMS Collaboration | Measurement of the inelastic proton-proton cross section at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | JHEP 07 (2018) 161 | CMS-FSQ-15-005 1802.02613 |
| 100 | R. J. Barlow and C. Beeston | Fitting using finite Monte Carlo samples | Comput. Phys. Commun. 77 (1993) 219 | |
| 101 | J. S. Conway | Incorporating nuisance parameters in likelihoods for multisource spectra | in Proc. workshop on Statistical Issues Related to Discovery Claims in Search Experiments and Unfolding, 2011 PHYSTAT 2011 (2011) 115 |
1103.0354 |
| 102 | J. Butterworth et al. | PDF4LHC recommendations for LHC Run II | JPG 43 (2016) 023001 | 1510.03865 |
| 103 | ATLAS and CMS Collaborations, and LHC Higgs Combination Group | Procedure for the LHC Higgs boson search combination in Summer 2011 | Technical Report CMS-NOTE-2011-005, ATL-PHYS-PUB-2011-11, 2011 | |
| 104 | CMS Collaboration | Precise determination of the mass of the Higgs boson and tests of compatibility of its couplings with the standard model predictions using proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV | EPJC 75 (2015) 212 | CMS-HIG-14-009 1412.8662 |
| 105 | CMS Collaboration | The CMS statistical analysis and combination tool: Combine | Comput. Softw. Big Sci. 8 (2024) 19 | CMS-CAT-23-001 2404.06614 |
| 106 | W. Verkerke and D. Kirkby | The RooFit toolkit for data modeling | in the Int. Conf. on Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP ): La Jolla CA, United States, 2003 Proc. 1 (2003) 3 |
physics/0306116 |
| 107 | L. Moneta et al. | The RooStats project | in the Int. Workshop on Advanced Computing and Analysis Techniques in Physics Research (ACAT ): Jaipur, India, 2010 Proc. 1 (2010) 3 |
1009.1003 |
| 108 | A. L. Read | Presentation of search results: The $ \text{CL}_\text{s} $ technique | JPG 28 (2002) 2693 | |
| 109 | T. Junk | Confidence level computation for combining searches with small statistics | NIM A 434 (1999) 435 | hep-ex/9902006 |
| 110 | G. Cowan, K. Cranmer, E. Gross, and O. Vitells | Asymptotic formulae for likelihood-based tests of new physics | EPJC 71 (2011) 1554 | 1007.1727 |
| 111 | L. Demortier | P values and nuisance parameters | in Proc. Int. Workshop on Statistical issues for LHC physics (PHYSTAT-LHC): Geneva, Switzerland, 2008 link |
|
|
|
Compact Muon Solenoid LHC, CERN |
|
|
|
|
|
|