Scope of Higgs production in association with a bottom quark pair in probing the Higgs sector of the NMSSM at the LHC

Abstract

We review the potential of the LHC to detect a very light CP-odd Higgs boson of the NMSSM, $a_1$, through its direct production in association with a bottom-quark pair at large tan${\hat{I}}^2$. We also review the LHC discovery potential of the two lightest CP-even Higgs states, decaying into two lighter Higgs states or into the lightest CP-odd Higgs state and the $Z$ gauge boson.

31 pages, 14 figures