Search for a lighter Higgs boson in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

Following the discovery of the Higgs boson with a mass of approximately 125 Ge V at the LHC, many studies have been performed from both the theoretical and experimental viewpoints to search for a new Higgs Boson that is lighter than 125 Ge V. We explore the possibility of constraining a lighter neutral scalar Higgs boson h_1 and a lighter pseudo-scalar Higgs boson a_1 in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model by restricting the next-to-lightest scalar Higgs boson h_2 to be the one observed at the LHC after applying the phenomenological constraints and those from experimental measurements. Such lighter particles are not yet completely excluded by the latest results of the search for a lighter Higgs boson in the diphoton decay channel from LHC data. Our results show that some new constraints on the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model could be obtained for a lighter scalar Higgs boson at the LHC if such a search is performed by experimental collaborations and more data. The potentials of discovery for other interesting decay channels of such a lighter neutral scalar or pseudo-scalar particle are also discussed.     

Solving the little hierarchy problem with a light singlet and supersymmetric mass terms

A generalization of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Model (NMSSM) is studied in which an explicit μ-term as well as a small supersymmetric mass term for the singlet superfield are incorporated. We study the possibility of raising the Standard Model-like Higgs mass at tree level through its mixing with a light, mostly-singlet, CP-even scalar. We are able to generate Higgs boson masses up to 145 GeV with top squarks below 1.1 TeV and without the need to fine tune parameters in the scalar potential. This model yields light singlet-like scalars and pseudoscalars passing all collider constraints.     

NMSSM Higgs benchmarks near 125 GeV

The recent LHC indications of a SM-like Higgs boson near 125 GeV are consistent not only with the Standard Model (SM) but also with Supersymmetry (SUSY). However naturalness arguments disfavour the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). We consider the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) with a SM-like Higgs boson near 125 GeV involving relatively light stops and gluinos below 1 TeV in order to satisfy naturalness requirements. We are careful to ensure that the chosen values of couplings do not become non-perturbative below the grand unification (GUT) scale, although we also examine how these limits may be extended by the addition of extra matter to the NMSSM at the two-loop level. We then propose four sets of benchmark points corresponding to the SM-like Higgs boson being the lightest or the second lightest Higgs state in the NMSSM or the NMSSM-with-extra-matter. With the aid of these benchmark points we discuss how the NMSSM Higgs boson near 125 GeV may be distinguished from the SM Higgs boson in future LHC searches.     

Higgs radiation off top quarks in high-energye + e − colliders

Higgs particles can be radiated off heavy top quarks which will be produced copiously in high energye ⁺ e ^? colliders. This process can be used to measure the Higgs-top quark coupling. We present the cross section for the production of Higgs bosons in the Standard Model. In addition we have studied the production of neutral and charged Higgs particles in association with heavy fermions in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.     

Precise predictions for the Higgs-boson masses in the NMSSM

The particle discovered in the Higgs-boson searches at the LHC with a mass of about \(125 \, \mathrm{GeV}\) can be identified with one of the neutral Higgs bosons of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). We calculate predictions for the Higgs-boson masses in the NMSSM using the Feynman-diagrammatic approach. The predictions are based on the full NMSSM one-loop corrections supplemented with the dominant and sub-dominant two-loop corrections within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). These include contributions at \(\mathcal {O}{(\alpha _t \alpha _s, \alpha _b \alpha _s, \alpha _t^2,\alpha _t\alpha _b)}\), as well as a resummation of leading and subleading logarithms from the top/scalar top sector. Taking these corrections into account in the prediction for the mass of the Higgs boson in the NMSSM that is identified with the observed signal is crucial in order to reach a precision at a similar level as in the MSSM. The quality of the approximation made at the two-loop level is analysed on the basis of the full one-loop result, with a particular focus on the prediction for the Standard Model-like Higgs boson that is associated with the observed signal. The obtained results will be used as a basis for the extension of the code FeynHiggs to the NMSSM.     

Confronting the MSSM and the NMSSM with the discovery of a signal in the two photon channel at the LHC

We confront the discovery of a boson decaying into two photons, as reported recently by ATLAS and CMS, with the corresponding predictions in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) and the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). We perform a scan over the relevant regions of parameter space in both models and evaluate the MSSM and NMSSM predictions for the dominant Higgs production channel and the photon–photon decay channel. Taking into account the experimental constraints from previous direct searches, flavor physics, electroweak measurements as well as theoretical considerations, we find that a Higgs signal in the two photon channel with a rate equal to, or above, the SM prediction is viable over the full mass range 123?M _H ?127 GeV, both in the MSSM and the NMSSM. We find that besides the interpretation of a possible signal at about 125 GeV in terms of the lightest $\mathcal {CP}$ -even Higgs boson, both the MSSM and the NMSSM permit also a viable interpretation where an observed state at about 125 GeV would correspond to the second-lightest $\mathcal {CP}$ -even Higgs boson in the spectrum, which would be accompanied by another light Higgs with suppressed couplings to W and Z bosons. We find that a significant enhancement of the γγ rate, compatible with the signal strengths observed by ATLAS and CMS, is possible in both the MSSM and the NMSSM, and we analyse in detail different mechanisms in the two models that can give rise to such an enhancement. We briefly discuss also our predictions in the two models for the production and subsequent decay into two photons of a $\mathcal {CP}$ -odd Higgs boson.     

Production and decay of neutralinos in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

Within the framework of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) we study neutralino production (i,j=1, …, 5) at center-of-mass energies between 100 and 600 GeV and the decays of the heavier neutralinos into the LSP plus a fermion pair, a photon or a Higgs boson. For representative gaugino/higgsino mixing scenarios, where the light neutralinos have significant singlet components, we find some striking differences between the NMSSM and the minimal supersymmetric model. Since in the NMSSM neutralino and Higgs sector are strongly correlated, the decay of the second lightest neutralino into a Higgs boson and the LSP often is kinematically possible and even dominant in a large parameter region of typical NMSSM scenarios. Also, the decay rates into final states with a photon may be enhanced.     

Uplifted supersymmetric Higgs region

We show that the parameter space of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model includes a region where the down-type fermion masses are generated by the loop-induced couplings to the up-type Higgs doublet. In this region the down-type Higgs doublet does not acquire a vacuum expectation value at tree level, and has sizable couplings in the superpotential to the tau leptons and bottom quarks. Besides a light standard-like Higgs boson, the Higgs spectrum includes the nearly degenerate states of a heavy spin-0 doublet which can be produced through their couplings to the b quark and decay predominantly into τ ⁺ τ ^? or τν.     

Two-and three-body decay modes of SUSY Higgs particles

We summarize the dominant decay modes of the neutral and charged Higgs bosons in the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model. While two-body decays are in general dominating, the branching ratios for three-body decays of the heavy scalar, pseudoscalar and charged Higgs bosons can be large below the thresholds if top quarks, W/Z bosons or heavy scalar bosons are involved. Analytical expressions have been derived for the partial decay widths and the physical implications of these decay modes are discussed.     

The Higgs boson: shall we see it soon or is it still far away?

The status of the Higgs boson mass in the Standard Model and its supersymmetric extensions is reviewed and the perspectives of Higgs searches are discussed. The parameter space of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is analysed with the emphasis on the lightest Higgs mass. The infrared behaviour of renormalization group equations for the parameters of MSSM is examined and infrared quasi-fixed points are used for the Higgs mass predictions. They strongly suggest the Higgs mass to be lighter than 100 or 130 GeV for low and high tan β scenarios, respectively. Extended models, however, allow one to increase these limits for low tan β up to 50%.     

Neutral Higgs sector of the MSSM with explicit CP violation and non-holomorphic soft breaking

Using the effective potential method, we computed one-loop corrections to the mass matrix of neutral Higgs bosons of the Non-Holomorphic Supersymmetric Standard Model (NHSSM) with explicit CP violation, where the radiative corrections due to the quarks and squarks of the third generation were taken into account. We observed that the non-holomorphic trilinear couplings can compete with the holomorphic ones in CP violating issues for the mass and mixing of the neutral Higgs bosons.     

Measurement of the Coupling Constant of the Higgs Boson with a tt ¯ $$ \overline{tt} $$ Heavy Quark Pair

Russian Physics Journal - The process of production of a Higgs boson HSM of the Standard Model (the H , h , and A bosons of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model) and a $$ \overline{tt} $$...     

Final results from DELPHI on the searches for SM and MSSM neutral Higgs bosons

These final results from DELPHI searches for the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson, together with benchmark scans of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) neutral Higgs bosons, used data taken at centre-of-mass energies between 200 and 209 GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 224 pb^-1. The data from 192 to 202 GeV are reanalysed with improved b-tagging for MSSM final states decaying to four b-quarks. The 95% confidence level lower mass bound on the Standard Model Higgs boson is 114.1 GeV/c ². Limits are also given on the lightest scalar and pseudo-scalar Higgs bosons of the MSSM.Received: 7 March 2003, Revised: 30 September 2003, Published online: 3 December 2003     

Chargino decays in the complex MSSM: a full one-loop analysis

We evaluate two-body decay modes of charginos in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with complex parameters (cMSSM). Assuming heavy scalar quarks we take into account all decay channels involving charginos, neutralinos, (scalar) leptons, Higgs bosons and Standard Model gauge bosons. The evaluation of the decay widths is based on a full one-loop calculation including hard and soft QED radiation. Special attention is paid to decays involving the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP), i.e. the lightest neutralino, or a neutral or charged Higgs boson. The higher-order corrections of the chargino decay widths involving the LSP can easily reach a level of about ±10%, while the corrections to the decays to Higgs bosons are slightly smaller, translating into corrections of similar size in the respective branching ratios. These corrections are important for the correct interpretation of LSP and Higgs production at the LHC and at a future linear e ⁺ e ⁻ collider. The results will be implemented into the Fortran code FeynHiggs.     

Decays of Higgs Bosons Into a Fermion-Antifermion Pair

Russian Physics Journal - Within the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, decay channels of Higgs bosons (h, A), H± into arbitrarily polarized fermion-antifermion pairs $$...     

Decays of H(h; A) Higgs Bosons into Two Photons (Gluons)

Russian Physics Journal - Within the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, we have investigated decay channels of Higgs bosons into circularly polarized photons (gluons): H(h; A)...     

Higgs production in association with squark pairs in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model at future hadron colliders

We study neutral and charged Higgs boson production in association with stop and sbottom squarks at the Large Hadron Collider, within the Supergravity inspired Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. The phenomenological relevance of such reactions is twofold. Firstly, they constitute a novel production mechanism of Higgs particles, either through a decay of a heavier (anti)squark into a lighter one or via a Higgs bremsstrahlung process. Secondly, their production rates are extremely sensitive to the values assumed by the five input parameters of the model, this possibly allowing one to put stringent constraints on the latter. After an exhaustive scan of the parameter space, we find that the majority of such processes could be detectable at high luminosity, provided is large, (except in the case of and final states, whose detection is also possible for smaller values), that the universal soft Supersymmetric breaking masses are in the ranges GeV and GeV, and that the trilinear couplings are negative, . We also point out some sizable decay signatures and discuss their Standard Model (SM) backgrounds. Finally, we derive compact analytical formulae of the corresponding scattering matrix elements. Received: 11 May 1999 / Published online: 3 August 1999     

Top quark mass in exophobic Pati-Salam heterotic string model

We analyse the phenomenology of an exemplary exophobic Pati-Salam heterotic string vacuum, in which no exotic fractionally charged states exist in the massless string spectrum. Our model also contains the Higgs representations that are needed to break the gauge symmetry to that of the Standard Model and to generate fermion masses at the electroweak scale. We show that the requirement of a leading mass term for the heavy generation, which is not degenerate with the mass terms of the lighter generations, places an additional strong constraint on the viability of the models. In many models a top quark Yukawa may not exist at all, whereas in others two or more generations may obtain a mass term at leading order. In our exemplary model a mass term at leading order exist only for one family. Additionally, we demonstrate the existence of supersymmetric F- and D-flat directions that give heavy mass to all the colour triplets beyond those of the Standard Model and leave one pair of electroweak Higgs doublets light. Hence, below the Pati-Salam breaking scale, the matter states in our model that are charged under the observable gauge symmetries, consist solely of those of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.