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| CMS-SUS-23-018 ; CERN-EP-2025-119 | ||
| Search for dark matter production in association with bottom quarks and a lepton pair in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV | ||
| CMS Collaboration | ||
| 14 October 2025 | ||
| Submitted to J. High Energy Phys. | ||
| Abstract: A search is performed for dark matter produced in association with bottom quarks and a pair of electrons or muons in data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to 138 fb$ ^{-1} $ of integrated luminosity of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. For the first time at the LHC, the associated production of a bottom quark-antiquark pair and a new heavy neutral Higgs boson (H) that subsequently decays into a leptonically decaying Z boson and a pseudoscalar (a) is explored. The latter acts as a dark matter mediator in the context of the two Higgs doublet model plus a pseudoscalar (2HDM+a). Multivariate techniques that target a wide range of mass configurations for the H and a particles are used. The observations are consistent with the expectations from standard model processes. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of cross section and branching fraction of the new particles, ranging from 10$^{-2} $ pb for an H mass of 400 GeV to 10$^{-3} $ pb for an H mass of 2000 GeV. Constraints on the parameter space of a benchmark 2HDM+a model are derived and compared with expectations in the context of cosmological predictions. | ||
| Links: e-print arXiv:2510.12396 [hep-ex] (PDF) ; CDS record ; inSPIRE record ; CADI line (restricted) ; | ||
| Figures | |
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Figure 1:
Example diagram at leading order for the production of a heavy pseudoscalar mediator decaying into dark matter particles, in association with $ \mathrm{Z}(\to \ell\bar{\ell} ) \mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}} $. |
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Figure 2:
Normalized distributions in $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ (upper left), $ m_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{\ell\ell},p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss}} $ (upper right), $ m_\mathrm{T2}^{\ell\ell} $ (lower left), and $ \Delta R^{\ell\ell} $ (lower right) in the SR for the main background processes (solid lines) and signals with high (dark gray dashed line) and low (light gray dashed line) $ m_\mathrm{H} $ values. The vertical bars at the center of the bins represent the statistical uncertainty in the predictions. |
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Figure 2-a:
Normalized distributions in $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ (upper left), $ m_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{\ell\ell},p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss}} $ (upper right), $ m_\mathrm{T2}^{\ell\ell} $ (lower left), and $ \Delta R^{\ell\ell} $ (lower right) in the SR for the main background processes (solid lines) and signals with high (dark gray dashed line) and low (light gray dashed line) $ m_\mathrm{H} $ values. The vertical bars at the center of the bins represent the statistical uncertainty in the predictions. |
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Figure 2-b:
Normalized distributions in $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ (upper left), $ m_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{\ell\ell},p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss}} $ (upper right), $ m_\mathrm{T2}^{\ell\ell} $ (lower left), and $ \Delta R^{\ell\ell} $ (lower right) in the SR for the main background processes (solid lines) and signals with high (dark gray dashed line) and low (light gray dashed line) $ m_\mathrm{H} $ values. The vertical bars at the center of the bins represent the statistical uncertainty in the predictions. |
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Figure 2-c:
Normalized distributions in $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ (upper left), $ m_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{\ell\ell},p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss}} $ (upper right), $ m_\mathrm{T2}^{\ell\ell} $ (lower left), and $ \Delta R^{\ell\ell} $ (lower right) in the SR for the main background processes (solid lines) and signals with high (dark gray dashed line) and low (light gray dashed line) $ m_\mathrm{H} $ values. The vertical bars at the center of the bins represent the statistical uncertainty in the predictions. |
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Figure 2-d:
Normalized distributions in $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ (upper left), $ m_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{\ell\ell},p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss}} $ (upper right), $ m_\mathrm{T2}^{\ell\ell} $ (lower left), and $ \Delta R^{\ell\ell} $ (lower right) in the SR for the main background processes (solid lines) and signals with high (dark gray dashed line) and low (light gray dashed line) $ m_\mathrm{H} $ values. The vertical bars at the center of the bins represent the statistical uncertainty in the predictions. |
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Figure 3:
Illustration of the requirements on the SR and CRs. All requirements are applied on top of the baseline selection. |
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Figure 4:
Distributions in $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ for the DY (upper left), $ \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} $ (upper right), WZ (lower left), and ZZ (lower right) CRs. In the WZ and ZZ CRs, $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ is obtained by removing the additional leptons from the calculation. The distributions are shown after performing a background-only fit in the $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ distributions of all CRs. The last bin includes the overflow, except for the DY CR where $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} < $ 140 GeV. The lower panels show the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM backgrounds. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data are shown as black circles, where the vertical bars represent the statistical uncertainty and the horizontal bars indicate the bin width. |
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Figure 4-a:
Distributions in $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ for the DY (upper left), $ \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} $ (upper right), WZ (lower left), and ZZ (lower right) CRs. In the WZ and ZZ CRs, $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ is obtained by removing the additional leptons from the calculation. The distributions are shown after performing a background-only fit in the $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ distributions of all CRs. The last bin includes the overflow, except for the DY CR where $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} < $ 140 GeV. The lower panels show the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM backgrounds. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data are shown as black circles, where the vertical bars represent the statistical uncertainty and the horizontal bars indicate the bin width. |
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Figure 4-b:
Distributions in $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ for the DY (upper left), $ \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} $ (upper right), WZ (lower left), and ZZ (lower right) CRs. In the WZ and ZZ CRs, $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ is obtained by removing the additional leptons from the calculation. The distributions are shown after performing a background-only fit in the $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ distributions of all CRs. The last bin includes the overflow, except for the DY CR where $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} < $ 140 GeV. The lower panels show the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM backgrounds. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data are shown as black circles, where the vertical bars represent the statistical uncertainty and the horizontal bars indicate the bin width. |
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Figure 4-c:
Distributions in $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ for the DY (upper left), $ \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} $ (upper right), WZ (lower left), and ZZ (lower right) CRs. In the WZ and ZZ CRs, $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ is obtained by removing the additional leptons from the calculation. The distributions are shown after performing a background-only fit in the $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ distributions of all CRs. The last bin includes the overflow, except for the DY CR where $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} < $ 140 GeV. The lower panels show the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM backgrounds. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data are shown as black circles, where the vertical bars represent the statistical uncertainty and the horizontal bars indicate the bin width. |
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Figure 4-d:
Distributions in $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ for the DY (upper left), $ \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} $ (upper right), WZ (lower left), and ZZ (lower right) CRs. In the WZ and ZZ CRs, $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ is obtained by removing the additional leptons from the calculation. The distributions are shown after performing a background-only fit in the $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} $ distributions of all CRs. The last bin includes the overflow, except for the DY CR where $ p_{\mathrm{T}}^\text{miss} < $ 140 GeV. The lower panels show the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM backgrounds. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data are shown as black circles, where the vertical bars represent the statistical uncertainty and the horizontal bars indicate the bin width. |
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Figure 5:
Distributions in the MLP4 score for the DY (upper left), $ \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} $ (upper right), WZ (lower left), and ZZ (lower right) CRs. The distributions are shown after performing a background-only fit in the MLP4 score distributions of all CRs. The labels on the horizontal axes indicate the MLP4 intervals that define a given bin. The lower panels show the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM backgrounds. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data are shown as black dots, where the vertical bars represent the statistical uncertainty and the horizontal bars indicate the bin width. |
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Figure 5-a:
Distributions in the MLP4 score for the DY (upper left), $ \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} $ (upper right), WZ (lower left), and ZZ (lower right) CRs. The distributions are shown after performing a background-only fit in the MLP4 score distributions of all CRs. The labels on the horizontal axes indicate the MLP4 intervals that define a given bin. The lower panels show the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM backgrounds. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data are shown as black dots, where the vertical bars represent the statistical uncertainty and the horizontal bars indicate the bin width. |
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Figure 5-b:
Distributions in the MLP4 score for the DY (upper left), $ \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} $ (upper right), WZ (lower left), and ZZ (lower right) CRs. The distributions are shown after performing a background-only fit in the MLP4 score distributions of all CRs. The labels on the horizontal axes indicate the MLP4 intervals that define a given bin. The lower panels show the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM backgrounds. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data are shown as black dots, where the vertical bars represent the statistical uncertainty and the horizontal bars indicate the bin width. |
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Figure 5-c:
Distributions in the MLP4 score for the DY (upper left), $ \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} $ (upper right), WZ (lower left), and ZZ (lower right) CRs. The distributions are shown after performing a background-only fit in the MLP4 score distributions of all CRs. The labels on the horizontal axes indicate the MLP4 intervals that define a given bin. The lower panels show the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM backgrounds. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data are shown as black dots, where the vertical bars represent the statistical uncertainty and the horizontal bars indicate the bin width. |
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Figure 5-d:
Distributions in the MLP4 score for the DY (upper left), $ \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} $ (upper right), WZ (lower left), and ZZ (lower right) CRs. The distributions are shown after performing a background-only fit in the MLP4 score distributions of all CRs. The labels on the horizontal axes indicate the MLP4 intervals that define a given bin. The lower panels show the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM backgrounds. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data are shown as black dots, where the vertical bars represent the statistical uncertainty and the horizontal bars indicate the bin width. |
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Figure 6:
Main statistical discriminant of the analysis used to extract the signal after having performed a background-only fit to the observed data. The left side of the upper panel, separated by a vertical dotted line from the right side, shows the four CRs used to estimate the normalization of the main background processes entering the SR. The right side shows the full MLP4 score distribution in the SR used to discriminate between signal and background. The various background processes are represented by filled histograms. The data points are shown as black dots, with vertical bars representing the statistical uncertainty and horizontal bars indicating the bin width, while the signal scenarios under consideration are represented with a dashed-dotted line. The benchmark signal cross section is set to 0.05 pb for proper visualization purposes. The figure comprises the full combination of all final states and categories for the full data set. The lower panel shows the post-fit values and uncertainties of the ratio between the observed data and the predicted SM background. |
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Figure 7:
Observed and expected upper limits at 95% CL on the product of the signal cross section and branching fractions $ \sigma\mathcal{B} $. The dependence of the limits on the pair $ (m_{\mathrm{H}},m_{\mathrm{a}}) $ has been accommodated into various 1D projections for a fixed value of $ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, where the corresponding limits have been scaled by an arbitrary factor ($ \times 10^{-n} $) for visualization purposes. The $ y $ axis contains the obtained cross section upper limit for the various combinations, whereas the $ x $ axis exhibits the dependence on the mass of the pseudoscalar. The solid and dashed lines correspond to the observed and median expected limits, respectively, while the green and yellow bands indicate the regions that contain 68% and 95% of the expected upper limits. |
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Figure 8:
Excluded regions in the parameter space of the 2HDM+a. The solid lines encompass the observed excluded regions, the dashed blue lines the expected, and the red-dotted lines indicate the regions that contain 95% of the expected exclusion limits. Projections are presented for the ($ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, $ m_{\mathrm{a}} $) plane (upper left), ($ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, $ \tan\beta $) plane (upper right), ($ m_{\mathrm{a}} $, $ \sin\theta $) plane (lower left), and ($ \tan\beta $, $ \sin\theta $) plane (lower right), for fixed values of the parameters in Eq. (1). The olive green band represents the allowed region as estimated from $ \langle \sigma v \rangle = $ (2-4) $ \times $ 10$^{-26}$ cm$^{3}$/s, which covers a range around the central value required by the observed DM relic. The cases where this curve is not visible in the figures correspond to the scenario where the preferable values of $ \tan\beta $ for this range of $ \langle \sigma v \rangle $ fall beyond the threshold ($ \tan\beta > $ 25) depicted in the projections. |
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Figure 8-a:
Excluded regions in the parameter space of the 2HDM+a. The solid lines encompass the observed excluded regions, the dashed blue lines the expected, and the red-dotted lines indicate the regions that contain 95% of the expected exclusion limits. Projections are presented for the ($ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, $ m_{\mathrm{a}} $) plane (upper left), ($ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, $ \tan\beta $) plane (upper right), ($ m_{\mathrm{a}} $, $ \sin\theta $) plane (lower left), and ($ \tan\beta $, $ \sin\theta $) plane (lower right), for fixed values of the parameters in Eq. (1). The olive green band represents the allowed region as estimated from $ \langle \sigma v \rangle = $ (2-4) $ \times $ 10$^{-26}$ cm$^{3}$/s, which covers a range around the central value required by the observed DM relic. The cases where this curve is not visible in the figures correspond to the scenario where the preferable values of $ \tan\beta $ for this range of $ \langle \sigma v \rangle $ fall beyond the threshold ($ \tan\beta > $ 25) depicted in the projections. |
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Figure 8-b:
Excluded regions in the parameter space of the 2HDM+a. The solid lines encompass the observed excluded regions, the dashed blue lines the expected, and the red-dotted lines indicate the regions that contain 95% of the expected exclusion limits. Projections are presented for the ($ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, $ m_{\mathrm{a}} $) plane (upper left), ($ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, $ \tan\beta $) plane (upper right), ($ m_{\mathrm{a}} $, $ \sin\theta $) plane (lower left), and ($ \tan\beta $, $ \sin\theta $) plane (lower right), for fixed values of the parameters in Eq. (1). The olive green band represents the allowed region as estimated from $ \langle \sigma v \rangle = $ (2-4) $ \times $ 10$^{-26}$ cm$^{3}$/s, which covers a range around the central value required by the observed DM relic. The cases where this curve is not visible in the figures correspond to the scenario where the preferable values of $ \tan\beta $ for this range of $ \langle \sigma v \rangle $ fall beyond the threshold ($ \tan\beta > $ 25) depicted in the projections. |
png pdf |
Figure 8-c:
Excluded regions in the parameter space of the 2HDM+a. The solid lines encompass the observed excluded regions, the dashed blue lines the expected, and the red-dotted lines indicate the regions that contain 95% of the expected exclusion limits. Projections are presented for the ($ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, $ m_{\mathrm{a}} $) plane (upper left), ($ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, $ \tan\beta $) plane (upper right), ($ m_{\mathrm{a}} $, $ \sin\theta $) plane (lower left), and ($ \tan\beta $, $ \sin\theta $) plane (lower right), for fixed values of the parameters in Eq. (1). The olive green band represents the allowed region as estimated from $ \langle \sigma v \rangle = $ (2-4) $ \times $ 10$^{-26}$ cm$^{3}$/s, which covers a range around the central value required by the observed DM relic. The cases where this curve is not visible in the figures correspond to the scenario where the preferable values of $ \tan\beta $ for this range of $ \langle \sigma v \rangle $ fall beyond the threshold ($ \tan\beta > $ 25) depicted in the projections. |
png pdf |
Figure 8-d:
Excluded regions in the parameter space of the 2HDM+a. The solid lines encompass the observed excluded regions, the dashed blue lines the expected, and the red-dotted lines indicate the regions that contain 95% of the expected exclusion limits. Projections are presented for the ($ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, $ m_{\mathrm{a}} $) plane (upper left), ($ m_{\mathrm{H}} $, $ \tan\beta $) plane (upper right), ($ m_{\mathrm{a}} $, $ \sin\theta $) plane (lower left), and ($ \tan\beta $, $ \sin\theta $) plane (lower right), for fixed values of the parameters in Eq. (1). The olive green band represents the allowed region as estimated from $ \langle \sigma v \rangle = $ (2-4) $ \times $ 10$^{-26}$ cm$^{3}$/s, which covers a range around the central value required by the observed DM relic. The cases where this curve is not visible in the figures correspond to the scenario where the preferable values of $ \tan\beta $ for this range of $ \langle \sigma v \rangle $ fall beyond the threshold ($ \tan\beta > $ 25) depicted in the projections. |
| Tables | |
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Table 1:
List of requirements used to define the SR, split into a baseline and an SR region selection. |
| Summary |
| The first dedicated search for dark matter (DM) with the CMS experiment has been presented, where the DM particles are produced through the production of a heavy neutral Higgs boson (H) in association with a bottom quark-antiquark ($ \mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}} $) pair, followed by the decay $ \mathrm{H}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{a} $ with $ \mathrm{a}\to\chi \overline{\chi} $, where a is a pseudoscalar mediator and $ \chi \overline{\chi} $ denote the DM particle and antiparticle. A data set of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$ ^{-1} $, is analyzed. This analysis exploits for the first time a signature involving a Z boson decaying into a pair of electrons or muons combined with requirements on the number of b jets and the amount of missing transverse momentum. A discriminator obtained with machine-learning techniques is used to separate the signal from background events. The multivariate classifier is trained to reach a high level of discrimination across a broad range of kinematic variations that arise from the different configurations in which the Z boson and the DM mediator are produced. No signs of DM production via the channel investigated here have been observed. The results are presented in terms of limits on the product of signal cross section and branching fractions for the decays $ \mathrm{H}\to\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{a} $, $ \mathrm{a}\to\chi \overline{\chi} $, and $ \mathrm{Z}\to\ell\bar{\ell} $, where $ l $ denotes a charged lepton. The 95% confidence level upper limits for the production cross section branching fraction of the new particles vary between 10$^{-2} $ and 10$^{-3} $ pb for heavy Higgs masses between 400 and 2000 GeV, respectively. Constraints on the parameter space of a two Higgs doublet model plus a pseudoscalar (2HDM+a) benchmark are derived. Exclusion regions in two-dimensional planes formed from four relevant 2HDM+a parameters are shown. The results are compared with expectations for this model in the context of cosmological predictions, in particular with the constraints arising from the thermally averaged cross section at the time of freeze-out, which are dictated by the observed DM relic abundance. The experimental results exclude a significant region of the parameter space preferred by those predictions for some relevant scenarios of the 2HDM+a model. |
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