Searching for a light $Z$ through Higgs production at the LHC


Abstract in English

We investigate the potential of LHC resonance searches in leptonic final states to probe the $Z$ in the minimal $U(1)_{B-L}$ model. Considering the current constraints on the $Z$ in terms of its mass $m_{Z}$ and the associated gauge coupling $g_{B-L}$ as well as constraints in the Higgs sector, we analyse the potential of dilepton and four lepton final states for $Z$ production. This includes Drell-Yan production, Higgs mediated decays and final state radiation processes concentrating only on the ATLAS and CMS detectors at the LHC. We show that the four-lepton final state is sensitive to $m_{Z}$ as low as 0.25 GeV. Furthermore, setting the Higgs mixing to $sinalpha = 0.3$, this final state has a strong sensitivity and it probes regions of parameter space where the $Z$ is long-lived. We demonstrate the sensitivity at the High Luminosity LHC and comment on the potential of probing displaced vertices due to long-lived $Z$. Finally, we also comment on the strength of $Z$ and Higgs mediated heavy neutrino processes by taking into account the constraints derived.

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