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Search for decays of the Higgs boson into scalar particles decaying into four or six b quarks using pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Aad, G. ; Åkesson, T.P.A. LU orcid ; Astrand, K.S.V. LU ; Doglioni, C. LU ; Ekman, P.A. LU orcid ; Hedberg, V. LU ; Herde, H. LU orcid ; Konya, B. LU ; Lytken, E. LU orcid and Poettgen, R. LU orcid , et al. (2025) In Physical Review D 112(7).
Abstract
A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson H into new scalar or pseudoscalar particles that subsequently decay into b-quarks is presented. The search considers ZH production with several decay scenarios for the Higgs boson; first to a pair of identical scalars, H → 2a → 4b, second to a pair of scalars with different masses (ma1 < ma2), either directly, H → a1a2 → 4b, or via a longer decay chain, H → a1a2 → 3a1 → 6b. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data at (Formula presented) ¼ 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model prediction is observed. The search sets upper limits at 95% confidence level... (More)
A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson H into new scalar or pseudoscalar particles that subsequently decay into b-quarks is presented. The search considers ZH production with several decay scenarios for the Higgs boson; first to a pair of identical scalars, H → 2a → 4b, second to a pair of scalars with different masses (ma1 < ma2), either directly, H → a1a2 → 4b, or via a longer decay chain, H → a1a2 → 3a1 → 6b. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data at (Formula presented) ¼ 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model prediction is observed. The search sets upper limits at 95% confidence level on the ratio of the Higgs boson production cross section to the SM prediction times the branching ratio of Higgs bosons decaying into 4b or 6b, between 4% and 25% for σðZHÞ=σSMðZHÞ × BðH → 2a → 4bÞ, between 24% and 38% for σðZHÞ=σSMðZHÞ × BðH → a1a2 → 4bÞ, and between 10% and 20% for σðZHÞ=σSMðZHÞ × BðH → a1a2 → 3a1 → 6bÞ, depending on the masses of the scalar particles. © 2025 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration (Less)
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Physical Review D
volume
112
issue
7
article number
072005
publisher
American Physical Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:105026921088
ISSN
2470-0010
DOI
10.1103/mzld-ldlt
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8a2fd986-a22d-45f3-95f5-5018fe622fae
date added to LUP
2026-04-10 08:33:51
date last changed
2026-08-30 03:24:58
@article{8a2fd986-a22d-45f3-95f5-5018fe622fae,
  abstract     = {{A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson H into new scalar or pseudoscalar particles that subsequently decay into b-quarks is presented. The search considers ZH production with several decay scenarios for the Higgs boson; first to a pair of identical scalars, H → 2a → 4b, second to a pair of scalars with different masses (ma1 &lt; ma2), either directly, H → a1a2 → 4b, or via a longer decay chain, H → a1a2 → 3a1 → 6b. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data at (Formula presented) ¼ 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model prediction is observed. The search sets upper limits at 95% confidence level on the ratio of the Higgs boson production cross section to the SM prediction times the branching ratio of Higgs bosons decaying into 4b or 6b, between 4% and 25% for σðZHÞ=σSMðZHÞ × BðH → 2a → 4bÞ, between 24% and 38% for σðZHÞ=σSMðZHÞ × BðH → a1a2 → 4bÞ, and between 10% and 20% for σðZHÞ=σSMðZHÞ × BðH → a1a2 → 3a1 → 6bÞ, depending on the masses of the scalar particles. © 2025 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration}},
  author       = {{Aad, G. and Åkesson, T.P.A. and Astrand, K.S.V. and Doglioni, C. and Ekman, P.A. and Hedberg, V. and Herde, H. and Konya, B. and Lytken, E. and Poettgen, R. and Smirnova, O. and Sur, N. and Wallin, E.J. and Zwalinski, L.}},
  issn         = {{2470-0010}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  publisher    = {{American Physical Society}},
  series       = {{Physical Review D}},
  title        = {{Search for decays of the Higgs boson into scalar particles decaying into four or six b quarks using pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/mzld-ldlt}},
  doi          = {{10.1103/mzld-ldlt}},
  volume       = {{112}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}