No Arabic abstract
Cascade decays of new scalars into final states with multiple photons and possibly quarks may lead to distinctive experimental signatures at high-energy colliders. Such signals are even more striking if the scalars are highly boosted, as when produced from the decay of a much heavier resonance. We study this type of events within the framework of the minimal stealth boson model, an anomaly-free $text{U}(1)_{Y}$ extension of the Standard Model with two complex scalar singlets. It is shown that, while those signals may have cross sections that might render them observable with LHC Run 2 data, they have little experimental coverage. We also establish a connection with a CMS excess observed in searches for new scalars decaying into diphoton final states near 96 GeV. In particular, we conclude that the predicted multiphoton signatures are compatible with such excess.
We discuss a $sim 3,sigma$ signal (local) in the light Higgs-boson search in the diphoton decay mode at $sim 96$ GeV as reported by CMS, together with a $sim 2,sigma$ excess (local) in the $b bar b$ final state at LEP in the same mass range. We interpret this possible signal as a Higgs boson in the 2 Higgs Doublet Model with an additional real Higgs singlet (N2HDM). We find that the lightest Higgs boson of the N2HDM can perfectly fit both excesses simultaneously, while the second lightest state is in full agreement with the Higgs-boson measurements at 125 GeV, and the full Higgs-boson sector is in agreement with all Higgs exclusion bounds from LEP, the Tevatron and the LHC as well as other theoretical and experimental constraints. We show that only the N2HDM type II and IV can fit both the LEP excess and the CMS excess with a large ggF production component at $sim 96$ GeV. We derive bounds on the N2HDM Higgs sector from a fit to both excesses and describe how this signal can be further analyzed at the LHC and at future $e^+e^-$ colliders, such as the ILC.
Stealth bosons are relatively light boosted particles with a cascade decay $S to A_1 A_2 to q bar q q bar q$, reconstructed as a single fat jet. In this work, we establish minimal extensions of the Standard Model that allow for such processes. Namely, we consider models containing a new (leptophobic) neutral gauge boson $Z$ and two scalar singlets, plus extra matter required to cancel the $text{U}(1)$ anomalies. Our analysis shows that, depending on the model and benchmark scenario, the expected statistical significance of stealth boson signals (yet uncovered by current searches at the Large Hadron Collider) is up to nine times larger than for the most sensitive of the standard leptophobic $Z$ signals such as dijets, $t bar t$ pairs or dibosons. These results provide strong motivation for model-independent searches that cover these complex signals.
The CMS collaboration reported a $sim 3 , sigma$ (local) excess at $96;$GeV in the search for light Higgs-boson decaying into two photons. This mass coincides with a $sim 2 , sigma$ (local) excess in the $bbar b$ final state at LEP. We show an interpretation of these possible signals as the lightest Higgs boson in the 2 Higgs Doublet Model with an additional complex Higgs singlet (2HDMS). The interpretation is in agreement with all experimental and theoretical constraints. We concentrate on the 2HDMS type II, which resembles the Higgs and Yukawa structure of the Next-to Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. We discuss the experimental prospects for constraining our explanation at future $e^+e^-$ colliders, with concrete analyses based on the ILC prospects.
Color-singlet gauge bosons with renormalizable couplings to quarks but not to leptons must interact with additional fermions (anomalons) required to cancel the gauge anomalies. Analyzing the decays of such leptophobic bosons into anomalons, I show that they produce final states involving leptons at the LHC. Resonant production of a flavor-universal leptophobic $Z$ boson leads to cascade decays via anomalons, whose signatures include a leptonically decaying $Z$, missing energy and several jets. A $Z$ boson that couples to the right-handed quarks of the first and second generations undergoes cascade decays that violate lepton universality and include signals with two leptons and jets, or with a Higgs boson, a lepton, a $W$ and missing energy.
Recently, the CMS Collaboration observed the hint of a resonance decaying to two photons at about 96 GeV with a local significance of $2.8sigma$. While it is too early to say whether this will stand the test of time, such a resonance can easily be accommodated in many extensions of the Standard Model (SM). The more challenging part is to tune such an extension so that the required number of diphoton events is reproduced. Assuming that the new resonance is a scalar, we propose that the signal may come either from an ultraviolet complete model with vectorial quarks, or a model involving gluon-scalar and photon-scalar effective operators. We then incorporate this portal to several extensions of the SM that include one or more cold dark matter candidates, and try to investigate how the existence of such a scalar resonance affects the parameter space of such models. As expected, we find that with such a scalar, the parameter space gets more constrained and hence, more tractable. We show how significant constraints can be placed on the parameter space, not only from direct dark matter searches or LHC data but also from theoretical considerations like scattering unitarity or stability of the potential, and discuss some novel features of the allowed parameter space.