CMS-PAS-HIG-22-004

CMS-PAS-HIG-22-004
Search for a heavy CP-odd Higgs boson decaying into a 125 GeV Higgs boson and a Z boson in final states with two tau and two light leptons at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV
CMS Collaboration
20 July 2024

Abstract: A search for a heavy CP-odd Higgs boson, $\mathrm{A}$ , decaying into a 125 GeV Higgs boson $\mathrm{h}$ and a Z boson is presented. The $\mathrm{h}$ boson is identified via its decay into a pair of tau leptons, while the Z boson is identified via its decay to a pair of electrons or muons. The search targets production of the $\mathrm{A}$ boson via the gluon-gluon fusion process, $\mathrm{gg\rightarrow A}$ , and in association with bottom quarks, $\mathrm{b\bar{b}A}$ . The analysis uses a data sample collected with the CMS detector at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb $^{-1}$ . Constraints are set on the product of the branching fraction for the $\mathrm{A}\rightarrow\mathrm{Zh}$ decay and the cross sections of the $\mathrm{A}$ production mechanisms. The observed (expected) upper limit at 95% confidence level ranges from 0.055 (0.072) pb to 1.00 (0.80) pb for the $\mathrm{gg\rightarrow A}$ process and from 0.051 (0.067) pb to 0.77 (0.63) pb for the $\mathrm{b\bar{b}A}$ process in the probed range of the $\mathrm{A}$ boson mass, $m_{\mathrm{A}}$ , between 225 GeV to 800 GeV. The results of the search are used to constrain parameters within the ${\text{M}_{\text{h,EFT}}^{\text{125}}}$ benchmark scenario of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Values of $\tan\beta$ below 2.2 are excluded in this scenario at 95% confidence level for all $m_{\mathrm{A}}$ values in the range from 225 GeV to 350 GeV.
Links: CDS record (PDF) ; Physics Briefing ; CADI line (restricted) ; These preliminary results are superseded in this paper, Submitted to JHEP. The superseded preliminary plots can be found here.

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