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CMS-PAS-HIG-23-004
Search for the production of a Higgs boson pair in association with two top quarks in final states with photons
Abstract: A search for Higgs boson pair production in association with a pair of top quarks ($ \mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}\mathrm{HH} $) targeting final states containing two photons and multiple jets or leptons is presented. The analysis is based on data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$ ^{-1} $. An upper limit is set on the $ \mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}\mathrm{HH} $ production cross section. The observed (expected) 95% confidence level (CL) upper limit is found to be 119.4 (85.9) times the Standard Model (SM) prediction. The results are interpreted in the context of Higgs Effective Field Theory. Assuming all other couplings of the Higgs boson have SM values, the observed (expected) constraints on the contact interaction involving two Higgs bosons and two top quarks, $ c_2 $, is found to be $ -$8.0 $ < c_2 < $ 7.5 ($ -$7.4 $ < c_2 < $ 6.9) at 95% CL. A search for resonant $ \mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}\mathrm{HH} $ production is performed in the context of two scenarios beyond the SM, a Type-II two-Higgs-doublet-model (2HDM) and a vector-like top quark partner (VLQ). No excess above the expectation is observed, and upper limits on the cross-section of the resonances is set at 95% CL. For the 2HDM in the alignment limit, the observed (expected) limits at 95% CL on the mass of the heavy CP-even Higgs boson are determined to be 265 GeV (280 GeV). The VLQ limits at 95% CL for the $ \mathrm{T'} $ masses are larger than 1100 GeV (1150 GeV).
Figures & Tables Summary References CMS Publications
Figures

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Figure 1:
Feynman diagrams contributing to $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $ production, involving the contact interactions between one Higgs boson and two top quarks ($ \kappa_{\mathrm{t}} $) (left), the Higgs boson self-interaction ($ \kappa_{\lambda} $) (middle), and two Higgs bosons and two top quarks ($ c_2 $) (right), which only appears at LO in the HEFT framework [28].

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Figure 1-a:
Feynman diagrams contributing to $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $ production, involving the contact interactions between one Higgs boson and two top quarks ($ \kappa_{\mathrm{t}} $) (left), the Higgs boson self-interaction ($ \kappa_{\lambda} $) (middle), and two Higgs bosons and two top quarks ($ c_2 $) (right), which only appears at LO in the HEFT framework [28].

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Figure 1-b:
Feynman diagrams contributing to $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $ production, involving the contact interactions between one Higgs boson and two top quarks ($ \kappa_{\mathrm{t}} $) (left), the Higgs boson self-interaction ($ \kappa_{\lambda} $) (middle), and two Higgs bosons and two top quarks ($ c_2 $) (right), which only appears at LO in the HEFT framework [28].

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Figure 1-c:
Feynman diagrams contributing to $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $ production, involving the contact interactions between one Higgs boson and two top quarks ($ \kappa_{\mathrm{t}} $) (left), the Higgs boson self-interaction ($ \kappa_{\lambda} $) (middle), and two Higgs bosons and two top quarks ($ c_2 $) (right), which only appears at LO in the HEFT framework [28].

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Figure 2:
Distribution of the BDT score used for the non-resonant analysis event categorization. Data (black points) and predictions from simulation (colored histograms) are shown. Only the selected signal regions derived from the SM are shown. The ``Single H'' component includes $ \mathrm{g}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{H} $, $ \mathrm{VBF} $, WH, and ZH. The ``$ \mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}+\mathrm{X} $'' component includes $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} + \gamma\gamma $, $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} + \gamma $, and $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} + \text{jets}$. The ratio of the data to the sum of the non-resonant background predictions is shown in the lower panel.

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Figure 3:
Parametric models of the signal process $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} \to \gamma\gamma\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}} $ in SR$ _1 $.

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Figure 4:
Signal, resonant, and non-resonant background model and uncertainty for SR 1 (left) and SR 2 (right).

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Figure 4-a:
Signal, resonant, and non-resonant background model and uncertainty for SR 1 (left) and SR 2 (right).

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Figure 4-b:
Signal, resonant, and non-resonant background model and uncertainty for SR 1 (left) and SR 2 (right).

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Figure 5:
Observed upper limits for different values of $ c_2 $. The yellow (blue) bands display the one (two) standard deviation uncertainties in the expected limit. The dashed black line shows the median expected upper limit, while the solid black line shows the observed one. The red line shows the theoretical prediction for the $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $ cross section.

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Figure 6:
68% and 95% CL contours in the ($ c_2 $, $ \kappa_{\mathrm{t}} $) plane, obtained varying simultaneously the $ c_2 $ and $ \kappa_{\mathrm{t}} $ parameters. The solid (dashed) lines display the one (two) standard deviation contours. The black cross showcase the observed best fit value, while the red diamond depicts the SM expected values for $ c_2 $ and $ \kappa_{\mathrm{t}} $ parameters.

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Figure 7:
95% CL upper limits on the $ \mathrm{p}\mathrm{p} \to {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}_2 \to {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $ cross section for $ m_{\mathrm{H}_2} = 250- $ 350 GeV. The dashed black line shows the expected limit, while the yellow (blue) bands display the one (two) standard deviation uncertainties. The solid black line shows the observed limits. The red line shows the theory prediction on the production cross section times the branching ratio.

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Figure 8:
95% CL upper limits on the $ \mathrm{p}\mathrm{p} \to \mathrm{T'}\overline{\mathrm{T'}} \to {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $ cross section for $ m_{\mathrm{T'}} = $ 500-1500 GeV The dashed black line shows the expected limit, while the yellow (blue) bands display the one (two) standard deviation uncertainties. The solid black line shows the observed limits. The red line shows the theory prediction on the production cross section times the branching ratio.
Tables

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Table 1:
Additional photon requirements for barrel and endcap photons at different ranges of $ R_\mathrm{9} $, intended to mimic the HLT requirements. For photons with high $ R_\mathrm{9} $, the other cuts are dropped

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Table 2:
Expected signal sensitivity, given in multiples of the SM cross section
Summary
A search for Higgs boson pair production in association with a pair of top quarks ($ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $) targeting final states containing two photons and multiple jets or leptons is presented. The search uses data from proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016--2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to 138 fb$ ^{-1} $ of integrated luminosity. Three different interpretations are provided. The search for SM $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $ production, where no significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis is observed. Upper limits at the 95% CL on the $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $ production cross section are extracted for production in the SM and the observed upper limit for the SM production is found to be 92.5 fb, corresponding to 119.4 times the SM prediction, whilst the expected upper limit is 66.6 fb, corresponding to 85.9 times the SM prediction. The results are also interpreted to place constraints on the HEFT parameters. Limits are derived as a function of the $ {\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}} \mathrm{H}\mathrm{H} $ contact interaction coupling, $ c_2 $, assuming all other Higgs boson couplings are as predicted in the SM. The coupling modifier, $ c_2 $, is constrained within the range $ -$8.0 $ < c_2 < $ 7.5 ($ -$7.4 $ < c_2 < $ 6.9) at the 95 $ % \text{CL} $. In addition, this note also targets the resonant production of a CP-even heavy neutral scalar ($ \mathrm{H}_2 $) in the context of type-II 2HDM model and heavy VLQ $ \mathrm{T'} $ pair production in the $ \mathrm{T'} \to\mathrm{t}\mathrm{H} $ final state. No significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis is observed for either model and observed (expected) limits for the 2HDM in the alignment limit, for $ \tan \beta = $ 0.8, are placed at $ m_{\mathrm{H}_2} > $ 265 (280) GeV. The VLQ limits at 95% on the mass of the $ \mathrm{T'} $ are set at $ m_{\mathrm{T'}} > $ 1100 (1150) GeV.
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