Exotic $h \to Z a$ Higgs decays into $τ$ leptons
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866916894719606784 |
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| author | Cepeda, M. No, J. M. Ramos, C. Seoane, R. M. Sandá Zurita, J. |
| author_facet | Cepeda, M. No, J. M. Ramos, C. Seoane, R. M. Sandá Zurita, J. |
| contents | Exotic Higgs decays are among the most promising areas to be explored at the High-Luminosity LHC, given the unprecedentedly large amount $(\sim 3 \times 10^8)$ of 125 GeV Higgs bosons that will be produced. In this context, we propose a new search channel for which the Higgs boson decays to a (leptonically decaying) $Z$ boson and a light BSM pseudoscalar $a$, which subsequently decays to a pair of $τ$-leptons ($h \to Z a \to \ell\ell ττ$). After performing a validation of existing ATLAS and CMS exotic Higgs decay searches in related channels, we analyze the HL-LHC projected sensitivity of our $a\to ττ$ search, targeting the kinematic region where the exotic Higgs decay is two-body. We are able to probe pseudoscalar masses $m_a \in [5,\, 33]$ GeV by leveraging both leptonic and hadronic $τ$ decays, and establish model-independent 95\% C.L. sensitivity projections on the branching fraction ${\rm BR}(h \to Z a) \times {\rm BR}(a \to ττ)$. These $a\to ττ$ projections yield a competitive probe of light pseudoscalars, which depending on the model can become significantly more sensitive than projections from existing experimental searches in $a \to μμ$ and $a \to γγ$ final states. Finally, we explore the potential of our search to probe an Axion-Like-Particle (ALP) solution to the muon $(g-2)$ anomaly (when taken face-value), finding that our proposed $h\to Z a$, $a\toττ$ search can provide valuable constraints on such ALP scenario, in complementarity with existing $h\to Z a$, $a \to γγ$ experimental searches. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_08781 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Exotic $h \to Z a$ Higgs decays into $τ$ leptons Cepeda, M. No, J. M. Ramos, C. Seoane, R. M. Sandá Zurita, J. High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Exotic Higgs decays are among the most promising areas to be explored at the High-Luminosity LHC, given the unprecedentedly large amount $(\sim 3 \times 10^8)$ of 125 GeV Higgs bosons that will be produced. In this context, we propose a new search channel for which the Higgs boson decays to a (leptonically decaying) $Z$ boson and a light BSM pseudoscalar $a$, which subsequently decays to a pair of $τ$-leptons ($h \to Z a \to \ell\ell ττ$). After performing a validation of existing ATLAS and CMS exotic Higgs decay searches in related channels, we analyze the HL-LHC projected sensitivity of our $a\to ττ$ search, targeting the kinematic region where the exotic Higgs decay is two-body. We are able to probe pseudoscalar masses $m_a \in [5,\, 33]$ GeV by leveraging both leptonic and hadronic $τ$ decays, and establish model-independent 95\% C.L. sensitivity projections on the branching fraction ${\rm BR}(h \to Z a) \times {\rm BR}(a \to ττ)$. These $a\to ττ$ projections yield a competitive probe of light pseudoscalars, which depending on the model can become significantly more sensitive than projections from existing experimental searches in $a \to μμ$ and $a \to γγ$ final states. Finally, we explore the potential of our search to probe an Axion-Like-Particle (ALP) solution to the muon $(g-2)$ anomaly (when taken face-value), finding that our proposed $h\to Z a$, $a\toττ$ search can provide valuable constraints on such ALP scenario, in complementarity with existing $h\to Z a$, $a \to γγ$ experimental searches. |
| title | Exotic $h \to Z a$ Higgs decays into $τ$ leptons |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.08781 |