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| CMS-PAS-B2G-24-001 | ||
| Search for a new scalar resonance decaying to a Higgs boson and a new scalar with two bottom quarks and two photons in the final state in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | ||
| CMS Collaboration | ||
| 6 April 2025 | ||
| Abstract: A search for a new scalar resonance, X, decaying to a standard model Higgs boson and a new scalar particle, Y, is presented. The Higgs boson further decays to a pair of b quarks, while the Y particle decays to a pair of photons. The search is performed in the mass range 240-1000 GeV for the resonance X, and in the mass range 70-800 GeV for the particle Y, using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 132 fb$ ^{-1} $. Observed (expected) upper limits on the product of the production cross section and the relevant branching fraction at the 95% confidence level are extracted for the $ \text{X}\to\text{Y}\text{H} $ process, and are found to be within the range of 0.05 $ -2.69\,(0.08-1.94) $ fb depending on $ m_\text{X} $. The most significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis is observed for X and Y masses of 300 and 77 GeV, respectively, with a local (global) significance of 3.33 $ \,(0.65) $ standard deviations. | ||
| Links: CDS record (PDF) ; CADI line (restricted) ; | ||
| Figures | |
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Figure 1:
Feynman diagram for the production of the BSM resonance $ \mathrm{X} $ and its subsequent decay to two scalars, one SM Higgs boson and one BSM scalar $ \text{Y} $, with $ \mathrm{H}\to\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}} $ and $ \text{Y}\to\gamma\gamma $ |
png pdf |
Figure 2:
Distributions of the transformed pNN score for the signal hypotheses of $ m_\text{X}= $ 280 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 125 GeV (left) and $ m_\text{X}= $ 600 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 70 GeV (right) in their corresponding SRs. The bin boundaries correspond to the SR boundaries of each mass point. The distributions are inclusive in the $ m_{\gamma\gamma} $ distribution. The grey bands in the lower panels show the statistical uncertainty on the background estimation. |
png pdf |
Figure 2-a:
Distributions of the transformed pNN score for the signal hypotheses of $ m_\text{X}= $ 280 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 125 GeV (left) and $ m_\text{X}= $ 600 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 70 GeV (right) in their corresponding SRs. The bin boundaries correspond to the SR boundaries of each mass point. The distributions are inclusive in the $ m_{\gamma\gamma} $ distribution. The grey bands in the lower panels show the statistical uncertainty on the background estimation. |
png pdf |
Figure 2-b:
Distributions of the transformed pNN score for the signal hypotheses of $ m_\text{X}= $ 280 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 125 GeV (left) and $ m_\text{X}= $ 600 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 70 GeV (right) in their corresponding SRs. The bin boundaries correspond to the SR boundaries of each mass point. The distributions are inclusive in the $ m_{\gamma\gamma} $ distribution. The grey bands in the lower panels show the statistical uncertainty on the background estimation. |
png pdf |
Figure 3:
Parametric models of the signal process for $ m_\text{X}= $ 600 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 70 GeV (left), and for $ m_\text{X}= $ 1000 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 800 GeV (right) in their most sensitive signal region. The histograms are normalized to unity. The acronym ``dof" stands for the numbers of degrees of freedom of the parametric model. |
png |
Figure 3-a:
Parametric models of the signal process for $ m_\text{X}= $ 600 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 70 GeV (left), and for $ m_\text{X}= $ 1000 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 800 GeV (right) in their most sensitive signal region. The histograms are normalized to unity. The acronym ``dof" stands for the numbers of degrees of freedom of the parametric model. |
png |
Figure 3-b:
Parametric models of the signal process for $ m_\text{X}= $ 600 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 70 GeV (left), and for $ m_\text{X}= $ 1000 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 800 GeV (right) in their most sensitive signal region. The histograms are normalized to unity. The acronym ``dof" stands for the numbers of degrees of freedom of the parametric model. |
png pdf |
Figure 4:
Background-only fit (red line) and signal+background fit (blue line) for the mass point hypothesis of $ m_\text{X}= $ 280 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 90 GeV. The red line in the lower panel shows the background-only fit, which is by definition zero, and it is added as a visual aid. From left to right, the first and second most sensitive signal regions are shown. The choice of the background functional form is determined by the maximum likelihood fit. |
png |
Figure 4-a:
Background-only fit (red line) and signal+background fit (blue line) for the mass point hypothesis of $ m_\text{X}= $ 280 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 90 GeV. The red line in the lower panel shows the background-only fit, which is by definition zero, and it is added as a visual aid. From left to right, the first and second most sensitive signal regions are shown. The choice of the background functional form is determined by the maximum likelihood fit. |
png |
Figure 4-b:
Background-only fit (red line) and signal+background fit (blue line) for the mass point hypothesis of $ m_\text{X}= $ 280 GeV, $ m_\text{Y}= $ 90 GeV. The red line in the lower panel shows the background-only fit, which is by definition zero, and it is added as a visual aid. From left to right, the first and second most sensitive signal regions are shown. The choice of the background functional form is determined by the maximum likelihood fit. |
png pdf |
Figure 5:
Observed\,(expected) upper limits on the $ \sigma \times BR $ for the $ \text{X}\to\text{Y}(\gamma\gamma)\mathrm{H}(\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}) $ signal with the different mass hypotheses are shown with solid\,(dashed) lines. The green and the yellow bands define the $ \pm 68% $ and $ \pm 95% $ uncertainty bands, respectively. For visualization purposes, the upper limit for mass points with different $ m_\text{X} $ has been multiplied with a constant factor quoted on the right of each band. Mass points with $ m_\text{X} $ ranging from 240 to 550 GeV are shown. |
png pdf |
Figure 6:
Observed\,(expected) upper limits on the $ \sigma \times BR $ for the $ \text{X}\to\text{Y}(\gamma\gamma)\mathrm{H}(\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}) $ signal with the different mass hypotheses are shown with solid\,(dashed) lines. The green and the yellow bands define the $ \pm 68% $ and $ \pm 95% $ uncertainty bands, respectively. For visualization purposes, the upper limit for mass points with different $ m_\text{X} $ has been multiplied with a constant factor quoted on the right of each band. Mass points with $ m_\text{X} $ ranging from 600 to 1000 GeV are shown. |
png pdf |
Figure 7:
Observed\,(expected) upper limits on the $ \sigma \times BR $ for the $ \text{X}\to\text{Y}(\gamma\gamma)\mathrm{H}(\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}) $ signal with the different $ m_\text{Y} $ hypotheses are shown with solid\,(dashed) lines. The inner (green) band and the outer (yellow) band indicate the regions containing 68% and 95%, respectively, of the distribution of limits expected under the background-only hypothesis. The left plot shows the set of mass points with the lowest $ m_\text{X} = $ 240 GeV, and the right plot shows the set of mass points with the highest $ m_\text{X} = $ 1000 GeV. |
png |
Figure 7-a:
Observed\,(expected) upper limits on the $ \sigma \times BR $ for the $ \text{X}\to\text{Y}(\gamma\gamma)\mathrm{H}(\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}) $ signal with the different $ m_\text{Y} $ hypotheses are shown with solid\,(dashed) lines. The inner (green) band and the outer (yellow) band indicate the regions containing 68% and 95%, respectively, of the distribution of limits expected under the background-only hypothesis. The left plot shows the set of mass points with the lowest $ m_\text{X} = $ 240 GeV, and the right plot shows the set of mass points with the highest $ m_\text{X} = $ 1000 GeV. |
png |
Figure 7-b:
Observed\,(expected) upper limits on the $ \sigma \times BR $ for the $ \text{X}\to\text{Y}(\gamma\gamma)\mathrm{H}(\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}) $ signal with the different $ m_\text{Y} $ hypotheses are shown with solid\,(dashed) lines. The inner (green) band and the outer (yellow) band indicate the regions containing 68% and 95%, respectively, of the distribution of limits expected under the background-only hypothesis. The left plot shows the set of mass points with the lowest $ m_\text{X} = $ 240 GeV, and the right plot shows the set of mass points with the highest $ m_\text{X} = $ 1000 GeV. |
| Tables | |
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Table 1:
Additional photon requirements, as a function of $ |\eta| $ and $ R_{9} $. The variable $ \rho $ is the median of the transverse energy density per unit area in the event. |
png pdf |
Table 2:
The training variables included as input to the pNN used for the final selection of this search. |
| Summary |
| A search for the production of a new scalar resonance, $ \mathrm{X} $, which decays to a standard model Higgs boson and a new scalar resonance, $ \text{Y} $, has been presented. The final state involves a pair of b quarks from the Higgs boson decay, and a pair of photons, from the $ \text{Y} $ particle decay. This search is the first one targeting this final state combination. The analysis probes the mass range of 240--1000 GeV for the resonance X and of 70--800 GeV for the particle $ \text{Y} $, and uses proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 132 fb$^{-1}$. Upper limits on the $ \mathrm{X}\to\text{Y}\mathrm{H} $ cross section have been derived at the 95% confidence level as functions of the masses of the $ \mathrm{X} $ and the $ \text{Y} $ particles. The observed\,(expected) upper limits on the product of the production cross section of $ \mathrm{X} $ and the branching fraction to the $ \mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}\gamma\gamma $ final state are found to be between 0.05--2.69\,(0.08--1.94)\,fb depending on the specific signal masses hypothesis, and are compatible with the background-only expectation. A local\,(global) significance of 3.33\,(0.65) standard deviations has been observed for the most significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis, corresponding to $ m_\text{X}= $ 300 GeV and $ m_\text{Y}= $ 77 GeV. |
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